Train drivers to stage fresh strikes and overtime ban in pay row

Rail passengers face further disruption over the next month after train drivers are to stage a series of fresh strikes and an overtime ban. The latest action comes as part of an ongoing dispute over pay.

Aslef union members will stage one-day strikes from January 30 to February 5, and an overtime ban for nine days starting from January 29. Strikes are planned at Southeastern, GTR Southern/Gatwick Express, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, SWR Island Line, and South Western Railway main line and depot drivers on Tuesday January 30.

Then on Wednesday, January 31 strikes will take place at Northern and TransPennine on Wednesday 31st January. There will be further strikes at C2C, Greater Anglia, and LNER on Friday February 2 and at Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, and West Midlands Trains on Saturday February 3.

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There will also be action at Chiltern, CrossCountry, and GWR on Monday February 5.

Aslef's general secretary, Mick Whelan, expressed disappointment: "We have given the Government every opportunity to come to the table but it has now been a year since we had any contact from the Department for Transport. It's clear they do not want to resolve this dispute."

"Many of our members have not had a single penny increase to their pay for half a decade, during which time inflation has soared and, with it, the cost of living."

"Train drivers didn't even ask for an increase during the Covid-19 pandemic when we worked throughout lockdown as key workers, risking our lives, to move goods around the country and to enable NHS and other workers to get to work."

"The Tory government has now tried its old trick of changing the rules. When they couldn't win