Piccadilly Line strike: Tube drivers suspend walkout set to coincide with junior doctors' strike

London commuters have been spared more travel misery after the RMT and Aslef unions suspended strike action billed for 26 April, which would have coincided with a walkout from NHS junior doctors across England.

Drivers on the popular Piccadilly Line had threatened to strike for 24 hours from 26 April, and again from 28 April. But the unions decided to temporarily call off the industrial action after negotiations with London Underground bosses at mitigation service Acas.

"The hard work of RMT reps, backed up by the solidarity and determination of RMT members, has enabled us to make enough progress in talks over the issues at the heart of this dispute to allow this week's action to be suspended and to allow for those talks to continue," said Mich Cash, the general secretary of the RMT.

"However, the dispute is not over yet and RMT pays tribute to the Piccadilly Line members whose resolve has been instrumental in pushing the negotiations forwards."

The dispute started after disciplinary action was taken against six drivers, who apparently refused to sign on for their shifts at Oakwood tube station, a Transport for London source told IBTimes UK. Union sources claim the train operators made the move because their line manager was underqualified.

Finn Brennan, a district organiser for Aslef, said no disciplinary warnings will now be issued to the workers following the negotiations.

"It has also been agreed that a series of meetings, facilitated by Acas, will take place at local and also at higher levels to ensure that outstanding issues are dealt with quickly and in accordance with company-wide agreements.

"This is a major step forward in helping us to resolve the dispute on the line and has enabled our reps to recommend to the Aslef Executive Committee that the strike action called for this week be suspended so that more progress can be made."

Pat Hansberry, operations director for London Underground, said: "We welcome the RMT and Aslef's decision to withdraw the strike action that was planned for this week. Both parties have engaged in constructive talks which have enabled us to reach an agreement on the way forward to resolve this dispute."