Rail workers are set to spark major travel disruption by staging another walk-out on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will strike at 14 train operators for 24 hours on May 13, in an ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions. The fresh wave of industrial action was announced after union leaders rejected the latest offer from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), with the RMT saying that the offer included a first-year payment of five per cent only if the union terminated its industrial mandate, meaning no further strike action could take place.
Tens of thousands of Eurovision fans are expected to travel to Liverpool when the city hosts the song contest on behalf of Ukraine next month, with public transport already having been predicted to be much busier than usual. Network Rail previously urged people to plan their journeys in advance and allow extra time to catch trains, saying that their services to Liverpool Lime Street station were expected to be "very, very busy".
