Bonus payment of up to £850 AGREED for Tube staff to work during Games - as service falters yet again with break downs and signal failures

A deal has been agreed for London Underground staff to receive extra pay for working during the Olympics.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said the agreement was worth up to £850 for staff in recognition of the "massive additional pressures" they will face.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: "After months of hard work by our negotiators we have been able to come to an agreement that both protects the contractual rights and existing agreements of our members and rewards them in recognition of what we all know will be the biggest transport challenge ever faced by this city.

"However, on a separate issue, RMT will continue to fight for safe staffing levels to deal with the stresses and strains on the system.

"We have seen from the repeated breakdowns over the past two weeks the impact of cuts to staffing and maintenance and it is our members who are out there fighting to hold the service together and they deserve both every penny they get and the right not to be bullied into accepting unfair and unsafe working practices."