London Underground passengers face 24-hour Tube strike

Routes affected include the Central, Waterloo and City lines

Passengers are being warned of a 24-hour Tube strike from Tuesday evening.

Rail and Maritime Transport (RMT) union members plan to walk out from 21:00 GMT on 21 February in a row about staffing.

Central, Waterloo and City lines will be affected.

Both sides claim they have tried hard to resolve the dispute through negotiations. A spokesman for London Underground's Central line operations said he apologised to customers for the disruption.

The issue in contention is believed to be the transfer of drivers from their home depot at the eastern end of the line to other depots in central London, requiring them to travel further.

Peter McNaught, Central line operations director, said: "We have minimised the number of employees affected from over 30 to eight.

"All of these moves are within the long-standing agreements we have made with the unions."

He urged the union to call off the strike.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT negotiators have made strenuous efforts through the Acas machinery to resolve this dispute but the door has been slammed in our faces.

"To up the ante, LU have now written to us confirming that they will be bulldozing through the displacements regardless."

He said displacements referred to the movement of drivers to fill gaps left by staffing shortages.