Monday, July 11 2005 16:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Shrugging off fears, Londoners got back to life as usual today (July 11, 2005) with a large number of people making their first trip to work by the Underground after Thursday's (July 7, 2005) serial blasts.

In a bid to instil confidence among the people, London Mayor Ken Livingstone himself travelled by the Tube to get to work.

"We are going to work. We carry on our lives. We do not let a small group of terrorists change the way we live," Livingstone said.

Most Tube services have now returned to normal although the section of the Piccadilly line affected by the King's Cross explosion would remain closed.

Dozens of schools in Westminister, which were closed on Friday in the wake of the bombings, reopened today. Employees given off by companies on Friday also returned to work.

However, a few were reluctant to travel by the Underground and rode bicycles to go to office, while a few others hired taxis.

Business establishments are anxious to prevent any more damage being caused to the country's economy and expect all their staff not to take any more time off.

"It is in the interests of the economy of London and the UK as well as workers that the capital works normally," a spokesman for the London Chambers of Commerce said.

Tens of thousands of workers had left London offices early after the Tube and bus explosions on Thursday and many took the day off on Friday because of continued travel disruption and security fears.

London Underground said many people would be using the Tube for the first time since last week's attacks.

"We expect that passenger numbers will be lower compared to a normal Monday in London but as the days go on we anticipate that Londoners will return to using the Tube in the same numbers as they did before," a spokesman for the London Underground said.

Meanwhile, police began the process of identifying the victims of Thursday's blasts that killed 50 people and injured 700 others.

The first formal identification of a victim has been made as Susan Levy, 53, of Hertfordshire who died in the Tube explosion near Kings's Cross.

Some relatives have already been informed that their loved ones were killed in the bombings.

All bodies have been removed from the train, which was blown up between King's Cross-and Russell's Square.

For emergency teams, it was another pressure-packed day of sifting through subterranean debris, checking tips from the public and identifying the dead and missing.

Retailers said that shoppers returned after a reported 25 per cent dip in footfalls in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.