Strike In London Subway Network

London's subway network was paralyzed on Friday, and public transport was disrupted by a strike to raise wages in the face of Britain's highest inflation.

A spokeswoman for Transport for London told news agencies that service had been suspended on the London subway, with two lines providing limited train journeys about every 15 minutes.

Bus traffic has also been affected. It has become overcrowded because many Londoners have taken refuge in it. "I don't know how I'm going to work," said Greg Scalkey, 43, a construction worker who was standing in front of Black Horse Road Station (northeast London). Transport in London has gone up dramatically."

Many train users sympathized with the striking workers. But some Londoners were - on Friday - less lenient because they were late for work.

"I understand the message the strikers want to pass on to the officials. But London is a big city and many people need to get to work," said Catherine Ondo, 25, who works as a saleswoman.

These days, Britain is witnessing a new wave of massive strikes in the transport, postal, and port sectors.  It is expected that tomorrow, Saturday, will witness a new strike on the rail network.

Negotiations with several private rail operators are deadlocked, according to the unions, as the latter rejected an offer of an 8% wage increase over two years at Network Rail, the public rail operator accused of layoffs.

For his part, Transport Minister Grant Shapps criticized the unions for rejecting reforms to modernize the railways, and confirmed - in televised statements - that he might impose them by force, and said, "If we cannot implement modernization processes, we will have to impose them."