Commuters cross the river Thames on the Millennium footbridge as a tube strike hits the morning rush hour in the city of London yesterday.

Evening Standard/London

Millions of Londoners battled their way into work yesterday as furious business  leaders and commuters demanded that union bosses and Boris Johnson sort out the dispute that has shut the Tube for the second time in a month.
Workers struggled in by bus, cycle, boat and on foot as all 11 Underground lines and 270 stations were closed for 24 hours from 6.30pm last night in a strike over pay and working conditions for staff operating the new night time Tube.
It comes as an Evening Standard investigation reveals the huge scale of the damage being wreaked on London’s £1bn a day economy, particularly the fragile night-time sector, which will suffer a double hit last night and this evening.
With the RMT and Aslef unions threatening to step up their action in the run up to the proposed start of Friday and Saturday “through the night” services in September, senior figures piled pressure on both sides to settle the row before permanent damage is done to London’s global image.
Sean McKee, director of policy at London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: “Enough is enough, London needs a working transport system to thrive. The tubenetwork  is critical economic infrastructure and so Government needs to look at how to minimise future potential for strike action. In the meantime, both parties must get around the table and resolve these issues. As a major world city, London cannot continually be brought to a standstill.”
Sue Terpilowski, London policy chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Tourists are given a poorer experience of London as a result of this latest round of tube strikes.  It is therefore of great imperative that this round of tube strikes are called off immediately.”
A spokesman for the New West End Company, which represents hundreds of stores on Oxford Street Regent Street and Bond Street, said: “Strike action is not the way we should be trying to settle disputes in the 21st century and the West End’s businesses, employees and residents deserve better than this. We encourage all sides to resolve the dispute as it reflects badly on London as a global city where it is easy to do business.”
Jamie Robertson, assistant manager at the historic Langan’s Brasserie on Stratton Street in Mayfair, said last night the restaurant was expecting as few as 100 covers, compared with up to 350 on a normal night.
He said: “It’s impacted our business greatly. We’ve got about half the usual number of staff on. We look at the bookings on a given day and hire staff accordingly - so we’ve been phoning them and telling them they’re not needed.
“Usually is bustling outside and we’d expect a good few walk-ins. But not tonight, you only need to look out of the window to see how quiet it is, you could hear a pin drop. There’s no-one around.”
Commuter Robbie Reddy, 34, a creative director from Finsbury Park, said: “I just wish they would get back round the table. I can’t believe there is not a solution to this if both sides don’t give a little. The unions are notoriously strong on London transport, so this is what they do. Perhaps TfL could make them an improved offer.”
But there were few signs of any progress in the row with relations deteriorating further today after management issued new rosters to staff for running the night Tube.
Aslef, which represents the majority of drivers in the dispute, said the rosters had not been agreed or negotiated and the union “does not recognise them.”
Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: “We support Night Tube. London needs it. We remain prepared to talk at any time to try to find a common ground but by forcing these new rosters on train drivers and acting outside of our agreed way of working senior management are making it even harder to resolve this dispute.”
Leaders of the Tube’s three biggest unions – the RMT, Aslef and TSSA – will hold separate crisis meetings next week before agreeing a joint strategy for future action.
This includes longer or a series of walkouts with a 48 hour strike high among the list of options.
Boris Johnson told Londoners he was “sorry” for the inconvenience they were suffering as they struggled into work.
“I congratulate everybody who is managing to get into work and hope everybody is being as sensible and indulgent as possible for anybody who is struggling to get in,” he said.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s chief negotiating officer, said: “We have made every effort to reach agreement with the unions and avoid this unnecessary strike action. On the table is an extremely fair offer. We have employed 137 new drivers and 345 new station staff for the Night Tube service.”
Frustrated commuters caught in the middle of the row told of their stressful journeys to work. At Stratford hotel worker Madalina Bituleanu, 20, said: “We’re trying to get to South Kensington, which is normally an easy journey on the Central and District lines.
“Today, it’s the Overground and buses and we’re preparing for another three-hour journey home tonight. We’re from Romania and I can’t imagine this being allowed to happen in Bucharest, but I support the workers’ right to strike.”
At Victoria, digital marketing worker Rhiannon Leon, 29, attempting to get from Sydenham to Euston thought today’s strike action would add about up to 45 minutes to her commute.
She said: “I support tube workers right to strike but it doesn’t make it any less annoying for me trying to get to work. It’s going to take much longer and be busy and difficult and stressful. I’m here quite early but there are still long queues. God knows what it will be like later.”
Buses were reported to be packed from as early as 6am and at 8.45am there were 428 separate traffic jams causing 197 miles of tailbacks, according to traffic experts at TomTom. The most congested roads were around Parliament Square with delays of 48 minutes) and on the A40 from Wood Lane to Marylebone Road, with 30 minute tailbacks.
There are expected to be an extra half million bus journeys and more than 70,000 “Boris bike” hires today.