Hull KR fans travelling to Wembley face disruption from rail strike
Members of Aslef on Hull Trains have been taking industrial action for months
Last updated 7th Jun 2025
Fans travelling to the rugby league Challenge Cup final at Wembley today (7 June) face disruption because of a strike by train drivers in a long-running dispute over the sacking of a colleague.
Members of Aslef on Hull Trains have been taking industrial action for months in protest at what they say was the unfair dismissal of a driver for raising a safety issue, which the company denies.
The union warned fans travelling by train to the game between Hull Kingston Rovers and Warrington Wolves that they will face disruption to services on the East Coast main line because of a 24-hour walkout on Saturday.
Services have been affected by industrial action all week.
"Nothing serious is ever forthcoming"
Nigel Roebuck, Aslef's organiser in the north east of England, said: "Aslef members don't take strike action lightly, and we fully understand the anger of passengers wishing to travel to the Challenge Cup final on Saturday at Wembley.
"But angry fans should understand that this is a dispute entirely engineered by the company, not by us.
"Hull Trains unlawfully sacked a driver who had done nothing wrong, but the company refuses to give him back his job.
"Our dispute with Hull Trains has rumbled on since January and throughout this process Aslef has been willing to meet to find a solution.
"We have had little contact with the company since a meeting in late January when we offered a solution that was ignored and a further meeting in early March when, again, they simply ignored all the salient points.
"Since then, all we have had are just emails, usually late at night, or on Friday afternoons, when they know we have no time to respond. Nothing serious is ever forthcoming."
Mick Whelan, Aslef's general secretary, said: "The company seems to think that we're going to give up and go away. That's not what we will do, because the company is clearly in the wrong.
"It sacked a driver, over what it claimed was a safety issue, who has a clean safety record. The driver did nothing wrong. The company has behaved not just badly, but vindictively, in persecuting a driver for doing nothing more than raising a safety concern."
A Hull Trains spokesperson, said: "90% of our timetabled services on Saturday June 7 are planned to operate as normal, this includes our additional 0857 direct service to London and the 2027 direct service back to Hull.
"Customers can find the latest travel information on our website and social media channels.
"We'd like to wish Hull KR the best of luck in the Challenge Cup final."