Second night of Tube misery

Tens of thousands of commuters endured a second night of travel misery on the Underground as the recent bad weather and an electrical fire combined to cause major disruption on the network.

In the first incident, services on the Piccadilly line between Northfields and Heathrow were suspended for two hours from around 5pm to 7pm after a tree fell on the line at Osterley station. The tree was said to have fallen as a result of the week's heavy rain.

While passengers travelling to and from Heathrow airport had to sit tight or make alternative arrangements, customers on other parts of the Piccadilly line suffered delays as the knock-on effects took hold.

Passengers on the Jubilee line endured three hours of chaos after a fire at Bond Street station.

Commuters approaching the station were forced to walk or to squeeze onto packed buses and directed to nearby Marble Arch station, in an effort to relieve the pressure on Oxford Circus.

Tube workers were forced to close the gates at Oxford Circus every five minutes in order to keep crowds down to numbers which staff could control. Delays subsequently occurred on the Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines.

Earlier in the day, there were delays on the Jubilee line because of signal failure in the morning.

The eastern section of the District line also suffered a signal failure. Knock-on delays lasted throughout the morning peak period.

Last night's disruption was all too reminiscent of the previous night - referred to as "Black Tuesday" in reports in yesterday's Evening Standard.

That chaos on the Tube came when signal failures and a report of people on the line at Notting Hill Gate, coupled with problems earlier in the day, conspired to cause misery for tens of thousands of people using the Metropolitan, District and Circle, Hammersmith and City lines.

To compound the difficulties for Tube management, the two days of disruption came on top of a new report which revealed that millions of passengers are being put off the Underground and train network because of poor service.

On the Tube alone, 300,000 fewer journeys are being made each week, resulting in a £500,000 fall in income for London Underground.

Last night's disruption on the Piccadilly line will not have helped. Marketing assistant Olivia Bellas. She said: "I had severe problems getting home yesterday and today the same thing. Just how many signal failures are we supposed to cope with? I'm really thinking about getting the bus to work.

"It will take me longer but I'm sick of the Tube."