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London Underground staff today voted to strike in protest at the closure of ticket offices raising the prospect of the first major walk-out on the Tube for four years .

Members of the RMT union backed strike action as they bid to force the mayor to reverse the closures which will result in the loss of 950 jobs at ticket offices.

Seventy-seven per cent of RMT union members backed strikes on a turnout of about 41 per cent of those eligible to vote.

Approximately 8,300 members were balloted including station staff and train operators.

In 2010, 76 per cent voted in favour of strike action on a turnout of 3,700, or 43 per cent of those balloted.

Strike rules dictate that the RMT can down tools as early as January 17 and they have three weeks to tell Transport for London when they intend to strike before the ballot becomes invalid.

In 2010 the RMT staged four one-day strikes in protest at the reduction in the opening hours of ticket offices.

But TfL claimed it was able to limit the damage by operating services at 30-40 per cent of capacity.

Tube boss Mike Brown said all the job losses would be achieved through voluntary redundancy and he expected the scheme to be oversubscribed.

The cuts will be implemented after statutory consultation with staff at the end of March.

TfL has hinted it may compromise by keeping more ticket offices open as information centres at some larger stations. But it says it will not back down on the 950 job cuts it says will help achieve annual savings of £50m.

Phil Hufton, LU’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Our customers and staff are at the heart of our vision for the future of the Tube. All Tube stations will remain staffed at all times when services are operating, and we’ll be introducing a 24-hour service at weekends during 2015.

"In future, there will be more staff in ticket halls and on platforms to help customers buy the right ticket and keep them safe and secure.

“We’re committed to working with unions and staff to implement changes to station staffing without compulsory redundancies and we’ve been clear that there’ll be a job for everyone at LU who wants to work for us and be flexible. I urge our trade union colleagues to work with us to shape the future of the Tube."

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