Gary Lineker stood in solidarity with railway workers on a picket line in Manchester today on day two of national strikes.
The sports broadcaster was pictured with two striking track workers outside Manchester Piccadilly station as dozens of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union joined the biggest rail walkout in 30 years. Alongside the picture, the Manchester South RMT branch wrote: "Gary Lineker standing with the @RMTunion track workers on strike! Solidarity!".
When the Manchester Evening News visited the same picket line earlier today, these feelings of solidarity were echoed. Members of the general public stopped to speak to strikers about the dispute over pay, working conditions and jobs.
READ MORE: Disruption across Greater Manchester as biggest rail strike in 30 years continues
Passing cars beeped their horns in support of the workers. Speaking from the picket line, Clayton Clive, RMT branch secretary for south Manchester, said: "Nearly everyone we have seen has supported us. We've have firefighters come down in their fire trucks.
"We've had support from people from all walks of life, we've had a nurse standing with us. Mostly it appears that we're inspiring other workers."
Assistant general secretary at RMT Eddie Dempsey also said he thinks 'the public are behind us'. He told the PA news agency: "They understand it’s a scandal that billions are being ripped out of our industry at the same time workers are being punished.
"Teachers, they’re facing a cost-of-living crisis, (also) posties, telecoms workers, health workers. We think there’s going to be more demands for increases in pay in the economy and we think that’s right.
"It’s about time Britain had a pay rise. Wages have been falling for 30 years and corporate profits have been going through the roof."
But just an hour earlier, one frustrated passenger wandered into Manchester Victoria station hoping to catch a train to Wigan. He told the M.E.N that he thought it was 'ridiculous' that every service from the station had been cancelled.
He had just finished a 12-hour shift working as a security guard in the city centre. He said an app on his phone had indicated that there would be a train from the station, but arrived to find no trains running at all as around half of the national network was closed off.
"On the app it says there are trains from here, now it says there are none", he said. "I’ve just finished a 12 hour shift and now I’ll have to try walk to Piccadilly to see if there’s anything there. It’s ridiculous."
He said he would have to walk from Victoria to Piccadilly to see if any trains were running from there. If not, he would try the bus which would mean him getting on one service to Leigh then another to Wigan.
His last resort would have been a taxi home - which he said would have cost him about £60. He said he understood that 'everyone was struggling with money', but that strikes were not fair on people trying to get to and from work.
"I’m basically stuck with a taxi getting home, I think it’s not right to leave these people who are working, my shift yesterday was 7 til 7”, he said. I’ll have to check Piccadilly then see if there’s any buses but it will make a 35 minute journey into two hours."
Walkouts have taken place on Tuesday and today, with another planned for Saturday. On strike days, people have been urged not to use the railway network at all with station across the country left empty.
Just one in five trains have been running on strike days, mostly restricted to main lines, with around half of the network closed. Services started later than normal at 7.30am and will shut down early at 6.30pm.
Today Boris Johnson branded the strikes a 'terrible idea'. The Prime Minister said: "I just think it is important to remember that these strikes are unnecessary. I think people should get around the table and sort it out."
"This is a government that is investing more in railways than any previous government in the last 50 years", he added.
Meanwhile the government announced plans to change the law to enable businesses to supply skilled agency workers to plug staffing gaps during industrial action. Network Rail welcomed the move but Labour and unions condemned it as a 'recipe for disaster'.
The RMT also accused Transport Secretary Grant Shapps of 'wrecking' negotiations by not allowing Network Rail to withdraw their letter 'threatening redundancy for 2,900 of our members'. Mr Shapps hit back, saying the RMT claim was a 'lie'.
Read more of today's top stories here
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