Footfall in central London on the first day of the rail strikes is 27 per cent down compared to last Tuesday.

Retailers say the industrial action is a “blow” to their profits on top of rising costs and staff shortages.

Footfall in city centres outside of London was also down – by 11.2 per cent – according to retail analysts Springboard.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The impact of train and tube strikes today on footfall is very clear to see, with a large proportion of people clearly working from home.”

The Elizabeth line is reporting severe delays.

According to TfL, there are severe delays between Hayes & Harlington and Reading; due to an earlier customer incident, trains will not stop at Slough.

Local buses are accepting tickets between Hayes & Harlington and Reading.

A reduced service is operating between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington / Heathrow airport and between Liverpool Street and Shenfield due to strike action.

However, a good service is reported between Abbey Wood and Paddington.

Today’s Tube strikes have put immense pressure on London’s bus network, as thousands of people attempt to make essential journeys and get to work with practically no TfL train services on hand.

Twitter user David posted a video of one angry commuter shouting at bus drivers in Dulwich, southeast London, begging the driver to let him on the packed vehicle.

The man can be heard shouting “It’s not your bus! It’s not your bus!” while standing in front of it to prevent it driving away.

The commuter who posted it wrote: “Since 6:30am waiting for a bus but the buses still passing without stopping... And my patients and coworkers still waiting for me because of the #RailStrikes.“

The city route-planning app CityMapper has released an emoji-based chart showing which London train and Tube lines are expected to run on certain days of this week.

It shows a green happy face for all of Monday, when trains ran as scheduled, but stress-sweating and angry red emojis for Tuesday’s practically non-existent services.

Divided into Rail, Overground, Tube and Elizabeth line portions, it’s not a failsafe cheat sheet, but the effort was appreciated by users of the app.

Twitter user Darcey praised the quick-read chart, saying: “The CityMapper emoji-themed status tracker for the tube/train strikes this week is a work of art.”

Transport for London (TfL)’s current updates show that there are a very few trains running on Central, District, Northern and London Overground lines, all described as “part suspended”.

On the District, there are trains running between West Ham and Upminster approximately every 15 minutes but no service on the rest of the line.

On the Central, trains are operating between White City and West Ruislip / Ealing Broadway (approximately every 20 minutes); between Liverpool Street and Epping / Hainault (approximately every 10 minutes); and between Woodford and Hainault (via Grange Hill) approximately every 20 minutes. But there is no service on the rest of the line.

On the Overground, there’s no service between Romford and Upminster, Sydenham and Crystal Palace and between Surrey Quays and New Cross. There are also severe delays between Highbury & Islington and Clapham Junction / West Croydon.

On the Northern line, some trains are operating between East Finchley and High Barnet/Mill Hill East and between Golders Green and Edgware, with a service approximately every 8 minutes. There is no service on the rest of the line.

In addition, the recently-opened Elizabeth line (which is affected by wider UK-wide rail worker strikes all week) is operating with only “minor delays” and “a good service between Abbey Wood and Paddington”.

“I love these Tube strike days,” said - almost - no-one.

Londoner Alastair Hilton documented his sunny bicycle commute to work along the Thames, posting a chipper video of his commentary as the leafy north bank and Battersea Power Station came into view.

Mr Hilton whizzed past a row of cars sitting stationary in traffic as he trilled about the view, adding “Hope you’re all having a lovely time in your cars”.

London has seen bright, sunny weather and highs of 24C amid the Tube strikes, which have put all but a very few London Underground and Overground journeys off-limits.

The number of Tube journeys made across London plummeted by 95 per cent this morning, following the walkouts by 10,000 London Underground staff.

It is the fourth Tube strike so far in 2022, with the most recent having taken place over 24 hours on 6 June.

Previous strikes across Transport for London (TFL)’s network happened on 1 and 3 March.

One frustrated Australian holidaymaker in the capital told the BBC: “As tourists we can’t really go anywhere other than where we can walk to.

“When you’re a tourist you’ve only got a certain amount of time to be in London.”

Meanwhile, historian Tim Dunn popped into a deserted London Bridge station to find it “almost entirely bereft of passengers” on the first day of the UK-wide rail strikes - but with “a few services operating on the edges”.

The RMT Union leader Mick Lynch has spoken out about London mayor Sadiq Khan’s part in today’s train strikes, saying: “I think he's got sympathy for workers, I don't think he wants to dilute the system, I don't think he wants to instinctively attack our workers”.

Speaking to the Evening Standard’s Ross Lydall, he continued: “But in order to get a deal, what he’s done is to put our member’s terms and conditions and pensions on the altar as something to be cut.

“We wish he hadn’t done that, but we do support the idea that you get a fully-funded London Underground - it’s vital to the city and vital to the environment that we have a properly funded network.

“But we also need the national rail network feeding into that.”

He called the government’s cuts to rail and Underground funding “not sustainable” and said solutions were needed.

In a statement about the strikes, TfL said: “TfL services and national rail will be affected by strikes from Tue 21 to Sun 26 June.”

This takes into account not just the London Underground walk out (from midnight on 21 June until midnight on 22 June), but wider disruption caused by UK-wide rail strikes as 40,000 rail workers participate in industrial action on 21, 23 and 25 June.

This means that most journeys during Tuesday 21 June on the TfL network will be off-limits, but also covers TfL’s back for the other six days of the week, when RMT members of staff may be on strike.

Read our full guide to the dates and times of the strike:

Due to the industrial action, Eurostar has said it is running a reduced timetable between 21 and 25 June.

If you have a ticket for travel on 22 or 24 June and your train is not listed as cancelled or retimed, it means it is scheduled to run as normal. A couple of trains will be departing later than usual, and a few additional trains will be running over the strike days.

If you’d rather postpone your journey to avoid travelling during the strike period, you can exchange your booking for free for travel at a different date/time.

Read our full guide to which Eurostar services are cancelled here: