Passengers travelling from Scotland to England have been warned there will be no services on Friday May 12, with a vastly reduced timetable the following day.
A strike by members of ASLEF, the train drivers' union, means there will be no Avanti West Coast services on Friday and customers are being told not to attempt travel and instead claim a refund, seek alternative transport, or rearrange journeys for another date.
Options to travel by rail will be "extremely limited" on the West Coast Main Line between London, Scotland, and North Wales. Many destinations will have no rail connectivity on 12 May and rail replacement services will not be in place either.
The following day members of the RMT will strike, with "a greatly reduced timetable" in place on Avanti West Coast.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "This strike takes place in the wake of a recent re-ballot of members working for 14 train operating companies which massively re-affirmed a mandate for further strike action.
“Throughout this dispute – which has gone on for over a year – the government has tied the hands of the railway companies and prevented them offering a fair deal.
“We are striking so that the employers and government can see the huge anger amongst rail workers is very real and they need to recognise that fact, face reality and make improved proposals.
“We are calling for the rail companies to get around the table with RMT and negotiate in good faith for a better deal for rail workers."
The RMT said it had chosen May 13, the day the Eurovision Song Contest is held in Liverpool, because "it was the last date allowed under this country’s anti-trade union laws".
ASLEF said: "Train drivers agree that every working person should be paid fairly and that pay should be increased to keep pace with inflation - many public sector workers deserve far more than their long-frozen pay amounts to.
Read More: Transport Minister pledges to probe £1.6m bill for ferries that haven't sailed
"Senior managers in our industry take home huge salaries; rail operators have paid dividends to their shareholders right through the pandemic, and the rolling stock companies (who own the trains and lease them back out) have made billions. The claim that there's no money left to pay rail workers properly is just not true.
"During the pandemic, train drivers went out to work to keep the country moving. Rail helped other key workers get to work, and kept goods like food and medicines moving around the country."
Barry Milsom, Executive Director of Operations and Safety at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’re doing all we can to get visitors to and from Liverpool during Eurovision but more strike action by ASLEF and RMT will affect our services. Due to ASLEF’s walkout on 12 May, we’ll have no trains on this day and are telling customers not to travel.
Read More: Glasgow to Kilmarnock trains to be off for a month
“During the strike action by RMT on 13 May we’ll be operating a significantly reduced timetable, so all our customers should plan ahead, check before they travel and be aware of their last train home.
“While we’re able to serve Liverpool with our normal frequency of services on this day, RMT’s action means our last train to depart the city will be much earlier and Eurovision fans should also consider their travel options. Any customers with tickets for 12 and 13 May can make their journey on alternative days or claim a full refund.
“We’d like to thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding as they face further disruption to their journeys. We will continue our industry reform talks with the RMT and ASLEF so we can develop a railway fit for the 21st century.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here