Tube strikes: Bakerloo line staff to stage walk-outs

London Underground workers on the Bakerloo line are to stage strikes on two Saturdays in February.

Members of Aslef who work on the Tube line will walk out on 4 and 11 February after voting in favour of industrial action.

The union objects to a plan it says would allow trains to go into sidings and depots without checks to ensure passengers have already disembarked.

Aslef dubbed the proposal as "flash and dash".

It said passengers would have to depend on hearing unreliable public address announcements on trains to avoid being taken into depots and sidings.

Transport for London has been approached for comment.

Currently, trains are physically checked to make sure they are empty but the union said management wanted to remove this safety measure as part of a cost-cutting plan.

Finn Brennan, Aslef's organiser on the Underground, said: "This puts both passengers and staff at risk.

"Previous experience had shown that removing physical checks means that thousands of passengers are unwittingly taken into sidings or depots.

'We understand the pressure that London Underground is under to cut costs, but this cannot be at the expense of the safety of passengers and staff."

Strike action is already planned by Aslef members working for 15 rail companies across the country on February 1 and 3.