RMT press release, issued today

A man was arrested by plain clothes police this morning following an attack on striking station attendants at Elephant and Castle Underground station.

Around 100 RMT Tube station staff at Elephant and Castle, Charing Cross and Lambeth North have taken 24 hour action today to demand the re-instatement of a colleague dismissed after defending himself against a violent assault on New Year's Eve.

At around 6.30am this morning a man approached the picket line and punched one of the pickets in the face and attacked RMT president John Leach with a traffic cone.

The incident was witnessed by two plain clothes police officers who were driving past. They stopped and followed the man down onto the station platform where he was arrested.

RMT member Joe Thompson was left with a bloody nose and split lip said: "After what happened to Jerome I was afraid to defend myself as I have people at home depending on my wages".

Station assistant Jerome Bowes was sacked for defending himself against the assault from a member of the public who had already been involved in a fight on Elephant and Castle station, even though neither the Metropolitan Police nor the British Transport Police deemed that there was anything to arrest him for.

"Jerome Bowes was sacked for defending himself and now another member of staff has been attacked while defending his workmate," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Staff have to face these kind of assualts every day, London Underground should be defending their workforce not victimising them," Bob Crow said.