Redbridge residents hoping to bag a bargain in the first day of the sales yesterday were faced with a transport nightmare trying to get their shopping home.

A tube drivers’ strike by Aslef union members reduced the Central Line service to central London only for much of the day and Greater Anglia services were not running between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.

Shoppers resorted to bus journeys for over an hour and some paid for taxis to get home from central London.

An Aslef spokesman said: “For three years on the run, our members have voted by over 90 per cent to take industrial action on Boxing Day.

“There is clearly a major problem. But London Underground refuses to deal with it - or even treat it seriously.”

He said discussions promised in early 2012 started a few weeks ago and offered “precisely nothing”.

But Howard Collins, London Underground’s chief operating officer, said the union was demanding to be paid “twice for the same work”.

He added: “The scandalous actions of the Aslef leadership are an attempt to hold Londoners to ransom, and demonstrate a wholesale disregard for our customers.”

Let us know about how you got home yesterday by emailing newsdesk@ilfordrecorder.co.uk.