The latest legal wrangle over the Tube has ended in stalemate and a warning for both sides to settle their differences away from the courtroom.

London mayor Ken Livingstone had gone back to court on Tuesday in a bid to get key documents on the government's public-private partnership (PPP) plan for the London Underground.

Livingstone and his transport commissioner, Bob Kiley, challenged London Regional Transport (LRT) alleging it had failed to hand over crucial documents.

The mayor claimed the company, which is negotiating with the government and the contractors which will run parts of the Tube network, had entered the final stage of agreeing deals without letting him see the contracts.

Negotiations with the firms have now reached "final closure" and the consortiums are expected to sign the contracts within weeks.

The documents give the full details of the final contracts with the companies which will run the Tube for the next 30 years as part of the £16 billion PPP.

They are also likely to form the basis of any legal action mounted by Livingstone to stop the deals going ahead.

Mr Justice Elias adjourned the court saying LRT needed time to decide what it could provide.

He sternly warned both sides to take "a sensible approach" and co-operate as the dispute was not in the interest of the travelling public.

"The court will not be very sympathetic to those coming back to court and niggling over this document or that document in a pre-action disclosure situation," he said.

He added it was "very unsatisfactory from the point of view of the travelling public, and the public generally" that the courts were being asked to determine matters.

The mayor has also accused the transport secretary, Stephen Byers, of withholding information needed to assess the deals before control is transferred.

Transport for London has claimed that the government and the Tube have withheld key details. It said the court action was aimed at getting Tube bosses to co-operate after months of stalemate.

Livingstone said the information "goes to the heart of the value-for-money and risk transfer to the private sector that the deal is supposed to be based upon".

"We are forced to conclude that either the material is, for some reason, being deliberately concealed from us or worse, that it does not exist and the PPP contracts remain under negotiation with the bidders," the mayor said.

Byers, who is under pressure to end what has become a major embarrassment to the government, has announced he is pressing ahead with the plan.

The legal action was a surprise to London Underground which said it was "mystified".

"We have been fully co-operating with Transport for London and have been given them documents as soon as they become available. They are fully aware of the current position," said a Tube spokesman.