Don’t travel says Southern Rail as strike goes ahead
HUNDREDS of thousands of commuters face a week of hell after Britain’s worst rail firm failed yesterday in its court attempt to prevent a train strike.
Southern Railway has warned passengers not to travel on its train today, Wednesday and Friday
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling faced growing pressure to intervene in the long-running dispute at Southern, which links London to the South coast.
After the court defeat the beleaguered rail firm warned passengers not to travel on its trains today, tomorrow and Friday as members of the Aslef union are stopping work in a row over the changing role of guards. Another strike is planned between January 9 and 14.
Southern said passengers were also facing continuing disruption on all other days because of the union’s overtime ban.
The strike is going ahead even though 90 per cent of conductors have signed new contracts and the rail authorities have said Southern’s new system is safe.
Passenger FURY as Southern Rail make cancellations
The rail firm failed in in its court attempt to prevent a strike
A rail insider said Southern was pushing the change under which drivers become responsible for shutting doors while guards look after passengers.
The Government wrote the contract
He said: “The Government wrote the contract.”
In the House of Lords Tory Viscount Goschen asked how much worse “this transport crisis” had to get before the Government intervened.
Another strike is planned between January 9 and 14
Mr Grayling claimed he had kept out of the dispute to avoid politicising it.
In a letter to MPs he wrote: “When I met the secretary of Aslef, he promised me ‘10 years of industrial action’. I believed it better to avoid direct ministerial involvement.”