Hundreds of London Underground drivers could refuse to work if there are more attacks on the rail network, a union official warned on Friday.
Bobby Law, spokesman for the Rail, Maritime and Transport union told Sky news: “We have had drivers that had been refusing to work yesterday because they had concerns about their own safety.
“Hundreds yesterday were saying they were going to refuse work should a situation arise like it did yesterday.”
Law added: “Should any incidents happen on the underground system, the whole system should be shut down.”
He said the union had written to all its members telling them they had every right to refuse to work if they felt their safety was jeopardized.
Law’s remarks came after police shot dead a man at a south London underground station on Friday as they hunted for bombers who struck London’s transport network on Thursday.
The attacks at Thursday lunchtime caused chaos but killed no one, in an apparently failed bid to repeat suicide bombings, which killed dozens of people two weeks earlier.
“They (staff) are down there 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are at more risk than anybody, I would think. It’s not a handful,” Law said.
“We’ve been inundated with calls from our members saying they are now extremely concerned about their own safety.”
Law said union representatives would be meeting London mayor Ken Livingstone on Friday to discuss security.
“Our major demand to him is going to be that more staff are used on the underground... We will be talking about more training for our staff with regards to dealing with security incidents.”
