Much of Britain will have no passenger trains for the entire day after last-ditch talks failed to resolve the bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, with all sides blaming each other for the lack of progress. Most of Scotland and Wales, the whole of Cornwall and Dorset, and places such as Chester, Hull, Lincoln and Worcester, will have not services with strikes also planned for Thursday and Saturday.
London Underground services are also suspended on the vast majority of lines today due to a walk out by workers to add to the travel misery. At Birmingham New Street station, a few would-be passengers and commuters were trying to work out their travel plans, gazing at timetables on their phones and the departures board on the main concourse.
Carol Hutchinson, who is on her way back to the Lake District after coming off a six-hour flight from Egypt, landed in the UK to find her direct train from Birmingham International station cancelled. Having made her way to New Street, she was waiting to board, with her luggage, what appeared to be one of the few trains still running.
