Blackpool Illuminations travel warning issued as train strike set to cause misery

A warning has been issued to people hoping to travel to the huge Blackpool Illuminations switch-on event due to a train strike set to be staged on the same day.

Members of the Aslef train drivers' union will walk out on Friday, September 1, in their long-running pay dispute and will see some providers cancel all trains, while others will be running severely limited services.

Northern, TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast are among the 14 operators affected, which could cause problems for people looking to travel to Blackpool by train for the start of this year's Illuminations, LancsLive reports.

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The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) will then hold a further strike on Saturday, September 2, with around 20,000 members walking out to compound the travel misery. Aslef is also issuing an overtime ban on Saturday impacting services across Britain.

The huge free lights show that runs every year is expected to attract thousands to the seaside resort and also includes a parade held outside for the first time since 2019. Pop singer Sophie Ellis Bextor will have the honour of switching on the illuminations which will light up each night for four months.

Celebrations will kick off from 7pm, with the float parade scheduled to start around 7.30pm. The main celebrations on the Tower Festival Headland will take place between approximately 8pm and 9.30pm.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: "We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible