Central line meltdown starts at Shepherd's Bush

The BBC has a story on how the central line literally ground to a halt with drivers being told throughout the line to halt at the nearest station under an "amber" emergency alert. The problems stemmed from trains being out of place and not being able communicate with controllers in the white city area.

It quickly led to the whole line shutting down for over an hour throughout the capital city in the middle of the working week - and this is the year 2011.

I have to say, and it really pains me to say this given the contempt I have for Bob Crow and his band of thugs who think nothing of striking against Londoners to get more money for lazy drivers, at least some of the things they have been saying do seem to have the ring of truth about them these days.

On Monday this week I wandered into East Acton tube at about 0640 - no staff anywhere and the offices boarded up with a sign saying they wouldn't be on duty till past 0700. Woe betide anyone that needed help with the barriers, such as the elderly or people with children - or worse still a victim of crime. And I can't actually remember a week now when there hasn't been a shut down on the network, which follows cuts in maintenance shifts.