Trains to London off as drivers strike today
Avanti West Coast services from Glasgow are cancelled for the next two days
Scottish passengers are being told not to attempt to travel to London, the north west of England, or Birmingham, by train today (Friday 1st September or tomorrow in a new wave of strike action by rail staff.
Avanti West Coast which operates the route from Glasgow Central and Motherwell to London Euston will not be running any services on Friday, which on Saturday trains will only travel as far north as Carlisle on a reduced timetable.
Members of the drivers union, ASLEF, are staging a one-day strike today, and an overtime ban on Saturday.
Other operators affected today include LNER and Transpennine Express which serve Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.
In addition, members of the RMT are on strike at 14 companies, including Avanti, in the second of four successive Saturdays where they are taking action.
Ticket refunds
Tickets dated 1 or 2 September can be used up to and including Tuesday 5 September, and customers with tickets for 1 September (purchased before 11 August) or 2 September (purchased before 18 August) can claim a full fee-free refund from their point of purchase.
Andy Mellors, Managing Director at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’re sorry our customers will face disruption to their journeys when ASLEF and RMT members go on strike later this week. For many this is the last weekend of their summer holidays and with no services on 1 September and a significantly reduced timetable on 2 September it will severely impact their plans.
“The advice to all our customers making journeys on 2 September is to plan ahead, check before you travel and be aware of your last train home. We’d like to thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding.".
Train drivers: "We won't be bullied"
Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s General Secretary, said: ‘We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.
‘The government appears happy to let passengers – and businesses – suffer in the mistaken belief that they can bully us into submission. They don’t care about passengers – or Britain’s railway – but they will not break us.
Dumfries line affected
Scotrail staff are not involved in either of the disputes and the vast majority of its services will operate as normal.
However, a small number of services between Glasgow Central and Carlisle, and between Dumfries and Carlisle will be impacted on Saturday, 2 September, due to train dispatching being carried out by other train operators at Carlisle station.