Gordon Brown today called on striking Tube workers to return to work after industrial action brought travel chaos to millions of commuters during this morning’s rush hour.

The Rail Maritime Transport union is currently holding talks with London Underground officials over the Tube strike, which the Prime Minister described as “wholly unjustifiable”.

“It’s causing an enormous amount of trouble to the people of London and disruption to the businesses of this city,” Mr Brown said.

“They should get back to work as quickly as possible.”

Some 2,300 RMT members walked out on a 72-hour strike at 6pm yesterday over fears of job losses and pension cuts as a result of the collapse of the Tube maintenance firm Metronet.

This afternoon the RMT met with Transport for London, Metronet and the company’s administrator to try to resolve the bitter dispute.

The London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who is also chair of Transport for London, which has bid to take over Metronet, called the action “bizarre” and “inexplicable”.

“This must be the first time (example) in history of a union going on strike when everyone has acceded to their demands,” Mr Livingstone said.

The Tube strike caused major travel chaos this morning to the millions of commuters who use the underground network.

Only two of the 12 Tube lines – which service the main parts of central London – were operating in full, leaving most of the three million who use the network to find other ways of getting to work.

Businesses were also affected, with major stores in the busy shopping district of the West End set to lose millions from shoppers unable to travel.

The RMT general secretary Bob Crow said he hoped the strike would last only a day, insisting that his union’s members were willing to compromise.

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