LIZ Truss’s first Tory conference as party leader and Prime Minister is due to be hit by rail strikes.
Drivers at 12 train operators are to resume industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay at the start of next month.
A strike had been planned for September 15, but was called off after the death of the Queen as a mark of respect.
However 24-hour walk-outs will return on October 1 and 5, potentially creating chaos for travellers to and from the Tory conference in Birmingham, which runs from October 2 to 5.
The Aslef train drivers union is not expected to make a public statement on the dates until after the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
However the PA news agency reported the decision has been taken.
Industrial disputes in the rail industry and other sectors, including post and telecoms, have led to a summer of strikes, which are set to resume in the coming weeks.
A rail industry source said: “It is quite frankly incredible and utterly disrespectful that the Aslef leadership has chosen to announce strike action to train operators today.
“This is a time when the entire rail family is working hard to support the hundreds of thousands of people who wish to pay their respects to Her Majesty the Queen during this time of national mourning.”
The operators affected, which will be unlikely to run any trains on strike days, include Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, CrossCountry and West Midlands Trains, all of which directly serve Birmingham.
The other firms affected by the strike include Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel