The busiest summer holiday getaway since 2019 is under way – but families hoping to travel by train are facing thousands of cancellations as national rail strikes resume.
The RMT union says 20,000 members working for train operators in England have walked out in the long and bitter dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train operators, says: “In some areas only around half of train services will run, while others will have no services at all.” Few trains will run after 7pm.
Talks between the rail firms and the union have been deadlocked since April, when the RMT rejected a pay offer worth 4 per cent in each of 2022 and 2023 – subject to reforms in working practices. The deal was not put to members. Since then, the train operators have announced plans to close almost all station ticket offices at English stations.
The union’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “I am proud of our members for showing such fortitude and resolve in this long running dispute.
“The recent attack on ticket offices and the threat to de-staff our railways has galvanised a huge groundswell of public support which we are grateful for.
“Our members and our union will not be cowed by rail bosses or government ministers and our dispute will continue until we can reach a negotiated settlement.”
But as The Independent reports, the leader of Britain’s second largest rail union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) has accused the RMT of putting jobs at risk by pushing ahead with its walk-outs.
The TSSA’s general secretary, Peter Pendle, said: “Because of the line that our colleagues are taking, the deal – which was a good deal – has been swept away and all these changes are being imposed.”
Thursday’s 24-hour walk-out coincides with the fourth day in the latest overtime ban by train drivers belonging to Aslef. The union is involved in a similar dispute on pay and conditions.
The last day of the Aslef ban on rest-day working is Friday; on Saturday 22 July, RMT members walk out again for 24 hours.
On the London Underground, a strike called by the RMT is likely to shut down almost all of the Tube network between Sunday 23 July and Friday 28 July.
The final day of the RMT national rail action is scheduled for Saturday 29 July, with some effects continuing to the following day. And on Monday 31 July, another Aslef overtime ban begins for six days.
Cricket fans hoping to attend the fifth Ashes Test between England and Australia at the Oval will be hit by all three sets of industrial action.
A spokesperson for the RDG accused the RMT of “disrupting the plans of families during the summer holidays” and causing “disappointment, frustration, and financial strain for tens of thousands of people”.
Elsewhere, the motoring organisations are warning of congestion accompanying the busiest start to the school holidays in England and Wales.
The RAC predicts the worst jams will be on Friday, with the M5 motorway south of Bristol and the southwestern section of London’s M25 – between the A3 for Portsmouth and the A22 for Eastbourne – worst affected.
The AA said: “Those travelling further afield should expect delays around many of the UK’s ports and airports this summer.
“Operation Brock has been deployed in Kent ahead of the summer getaway period.
On the corresponding Friday in 2022, huge queues built up at the port of Dover and the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone as the effects of post-Brexit passport checks became apparent.
Because the UK negotiated to become a “third country”, French frontier police must now stamp every passport and check for the duration of stays in the European Union.
The Kent port’s chief executive, Doug Bannister, said: “When passengers arrive at the Port of Dover, they will be processed through border controls – anticipated to take around 90 minutes on peak days.
“However, our modelling indicates that processing times may be up to 2.5 hours during the peak hours of 6am to 1pm during the first couple of Saturdays and Sundays of the summer holidays, due to the extreme popularity of these days.”
On Wednesday evening delays built up at the UK’s two busiest airports, London Heathrow and Gatwick, with some flights departing close to midnight. But airport are running smoothly on Thursday morning.
Ground handlers working for three firms at London Gatwick are threatening to walk out from Friday 28 July in a dispute over pay, but members of the Unite union working for DHL – which handles easyJet flights – are voting on a fresh offer and the action affecting the airline has been suspended.
