Scarborough and Seamer train stations to close due to strike action
There will be severe disruption in October to rail services
Last updated 30th Sep 2022
Strike action is set to cause severe disruption to train services on the Yorkshire Coast.
Scarborough and Seamer railway stations will close tomorrow (Saturday 1st October) and Saturday 8th October .
Transpennine Express and Northern are urging people to plan ahead.
Strike action by ASLEF, RMT and TSSA is set to significantly impact services tomorrow, with further action by ASLEF – and action short of a strike by TSSA – planned for Wednesday 5th October and a strike by RMT and TSSA set to take place on Saturday 8th October.
TPE say they will only be able to operate a handful of services on each date and is urging customers to avoid travel unless their journey is absolutely essential.
A reduced train plan will also be in place on the days following each strike date, and trains will start later and finish earlier than normal.
Kathryn O’Brien, Customer Service and Operations Director at TransPennine Express, said: “The upcoming industrial action by the rail unions will cause severe disruption to services right across the country, and because of this, we will only be able to operate a handful of services for customers on selected routes, with the days following the strikes also affected.
“We are strongly recommending customers avoid travel unless their journey is absolutely essential on 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8 and 9 October and seek alternative transport instead.”
The following TransPennine Express stations will be closed, with no rail services, on 1 and 8 October:
• Middlesbrough
• Yarm
• Thirsk
• Thornaby
• Northallerton
• Scarborough
• Seamer
• Malton
• Selby
• Brough
• Hull (bus interchange remains open)
Northern is warning custmoers that it cannot operate any services on Saturday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, strike action by the RMT on Saturday 8th October is expected to bring all but a handful of services to a halt, with Northern still working on a skeleton timetable to be published in due course. Customers are advised not to travel.
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We apologise in advance for the significant disruption and inconvenience this action by the RMT and ASLEF unions will cause to our customers.
“As we have previously pledged, we will continue to work towards a resolution to this issue with the hope of avoiding more disruptive strikes in the future.”
Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, said: ‘We would much rather not be in this position. We don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing your labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union – but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.
‘They are telling train drivers to take a real terms pay cut. With inflation now running at 12.3% – and set, it is said, to go higher – these companies are saying that drivers should be prepared to work just as hard, for just as long, but for considerably less.
‘The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real terms pay cut for a third year in a row. And that’s why we are going on strike. To persuade the companies to be sensible, to do the right thing, and come and negotiate properly with us. Not to run up and say, “Our hands are tied and the government will not allow us to offer you an increase”.
‘Train drivers kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and we deserve to be treated better than this. That’s why we are calling on the companies – which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a pay offer to our members to keep up with the rise in the cost of living.’
TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, said: “We do not take this action lightly.
"We would much rather find a fair negotiated solution to this now long-running dispute, but we simply have no choice.
"A huge number of rail workers in our union, many of whom are longstanding members, had never been directly involved in an industrial dispute before this year.
"Across our railways, our members recently stepped up to the plate yet again and went above and beyond to meet unprecedented demand during the period of public mourning to provide additional services and keep the public safe, much like they did during the pandemic. They prove their worth time and time again and yet they are still undervalued.
"We can only hope the new Secretary of State for Transport can see sense where her predecessor could not. She has the power to mandate a fair pay rise, reasonable terms and conditions and end this dispute. It is time for Train Operators to meet us round the table and reach fair solutions.”