A strike by London Underground drivers is set to go ahead today after the company lost legal challenge to the action.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef will walkout on Sunday December 26 after a row over triple pay and time off.

London Underground Managing Director, Mike Brown said: “This strike threat is beyond belief.

“The ASLEF leadership is tearing up long-standing agreements that cover pay and annual leave and demanding even more – triple time and another day off.

“Londoners will simply be stunned at such a claim.

“By holding Londoners to ransom in this way they are showing complete disdain for all who want to visit family and friends or hunt a good bargain during what is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

“We have made every effort to resolve this issue including peace talks at ACAS where we offered to reduce the number of drivers rostered on Boxing Day, but to no avail.

“We will be running as many Tube services as possible on Boxing Day, as well as London’s 700 bus routes and some river services. We are also discussing with West End retailers how we can support more pedestrian VIP events in the near future, to encourage more shoppers to the West End.

“I urge all ASLEF members booked to work on Boxing Day to ignore this unnecessary strike call and report for work.”

People are urged to check before they travel on the tfl website on ww.tfl.gov.uk