Services are likely to be severely disrupted by the strike.

TRANSPORT bosses have accused a Tube union of holding London to ransom over their demands for extra pay for working on Boxing Day.

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Members of the train drivers’ union Aslef are set to walk out for 24 hours over a dispute about working conditions on Bank Holidays. The union wants workers to receive triple pay and a day off in lieu.

The strike is set to cause severe disruption to Boxing Day services and affect football fans heading from West Ham to Fulham and shoppers heading into central London for the sales.

London Underground has now claimed there is an agreement going back to 1996 which saw staff getting higher salaries and 6.8 weeks of holidays, on the understanding that this involved working some Bank Holidays.

The transport authority claims the union has now torn this agreement up and seems “determined” to disrupt the Christmas period for Londoners.”

Howard Collins, LU’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “It is disgraceful that Aslef should try to hold Londoners and London Underground to ransom in this way. We have a long-standing agreement which all of trade unions are signed up to and which we have published today, which covers staff working arrangements on bank holidays, and Boxing Day is included in that agreement. To tear that agreement up and seek to disrupt the festive period for Londoners in this way is just cynical.

“We have made every effort to resolve this issue with the Aslef leadership, which has refused to attend talks at ACAS to discuss its claim for triple time and a day in lieu for its members.”