Tube workers’ leaders yesterday slammed plans by London Underground bosses to employ amateur “ambassadors” to staff the network on New Year’s Eve.

Transport for London (TfL) plans to employ “volunteers” at £263 a shift to oversee the network — on a night notorious for problems of drunkenness and anti-social behaviour.

The Tube workers’ Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said the plan was a “provocative and dangerous stunt” and warned it could be an indication of what to expect for the future.

RMT said the move comes at a time when TfL workers are having their pay and pensions attacked and when London Underground workers are still locked into an industrial and political fight over cuts to jobs, services and safety.

Union general secretary Mick Cash said: “The so-called ‘ambassadors’ started off as a one-off for the Olympics and at the time RMT warned that it was the thin end of a long wedge designed to undermine permanent staffing and negotiated agreements across the Tube network.

“We now see as clear as day that we were absolutely right.

“The New Year’s Eve volunteers are now going to be paid £263 each and we do not think for a moment that TfL and London Underground will stop here.

“Once New Year’s Eve is staffed up by volunteers the next step will be Black Friday, the January sales, football matches and eventually the night-time running of the network as a whole.

“This sniping at staff, and their jobs, pay and working conditions, has to stop.”