Commuters were warned not to delay their journeys home on Thursday night as the first in a renewed series of strikes caused major problems across the national rail network.
It came as Transport for London and union negotiators returned to the conciliation service Acas in a bid to avert a week of walkouts on the Tube, in an unrelated dispute that threatens to leave the Underground with “little or no service” for much of next week. Hopes of a breakthrough were said to be “touch and go”.