Further train strikes announced for May

Train drivers will strike again between 7 and 9 May as a long-running disagreement over pay continues to bring disruption.

The series of one-day strikes will be coupled with a six-day overtime ban across the 16 passenger operators with whom ASLEF, the train drivers’ trade union, is still in dispute.

ASLEF has called 14 national one-day strikes since it first balloted for industrial action in June 2022, which is believed to have cost the hospitality industry “more than £3b in lost sales”.

Mick Whelan, general secretary at ASLEF, said: “It is now a year since we sat in a room with the train companies – and a year since we rejected the risible offer they made and which they admitted, privately, was designed to be rejected.”

It comes after a fresh wave of train strikes took place earlier this month.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, had said: “It’s incredibly frustrating that almost a year on from the start of this dispute, there appears to be no resolution in sight.

“Despite some hope that pay offers would bring rail strikes to an end, hospitality businesses are losing hope that the crucial summer season would be uninterrupted by disruption."

She added: “I would urge all parties to redouble their efforts in negotiations to reach a resolution and end this long-running dispute, which continues to harm businesses, workers, consumers and public confidence in the rail network.”

Walkouts will take place on the following dates:

Tuesday 7 May: c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line

Wednesday 8 May: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway; and West Midlands Trains

Thursday 9 May: LNER, Northern Trains, and TransPennine Trains

Train drivers will also refuse to work non-contractual overtime from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 May.