TUBE UNION RMT today accused London Underground of “playing fast and loose” with safety in the run up to strike action starting later today as the union revealed that tube management have issued a call volunteers to try and run services regardless of whether they have the necessary Operational Licences.

In a circular to staff desperately appealing for volunteers to help try and run some skeleton services LU say that those without the required Operational Licences will still be deployed and that those with lapsed licenses can have them renewed without complying with the normal training and updating programme.

RMT says that the latest safety breaches go to the very heart of the dispute which is all about London Underground hacking back staffing levels and cutting corners on safety in a dash to slash costs regardless of the implications for the travelling public.

LU have tried to create the impression that the dispute is about the Oyster Card and technology whereas in fact it is about the axing of 800 staff who are in the front line of protecting safety. RMT have revealed that last weekend a Customer Services Assistant (CSA) – one of the grades under threat – apprehended a passenger loaded up at Moorgate with a Samurai sword, a bag of knives, ammunition and two loaded guns.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“There do not appear to be any corners that London Undergound are not prepared to cut in order to bulldoze through their lethal cocktail of job and safety cuts. Sending out a few volunteers without the necessary Operational Licences and training to try and run a handful of trains is a disaster waiting to happen.

“Instead of playing fast and loose with safety it is about time that the Mayor and his officials took the issues as the heart of this dispute seriously, removed the threat of these savage cuts from above our members heads and cleared the way for meaningful talks aimed at protecting safety and safe staffing levels.

“The station staff who apprehended a man carrying knives and loaded guns last weekend, along with the staff whose vigilance and skills averted major fire disasters at Euston and Oxford Service recently, are the very personnel whose jobs are on the block. That is what this dispute is all about.”