Rail passengers are again being warned to check before they travel.

Great Western Railway services are likely to be disrupted today following yesterday's industrial action.

Services will start from 7am with a severely reduced timetable in place and are expected to be very busy, said the train operator.

If you can delay your journey, tickets for travel on Sunday are valid up to Tuesday 23 August.

However, 85 per cent of trains are expected to run as normal today.

Tens of thousands of workers went on strike yesterday in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

READ ALSO: Plans to build main road as part of Oxford North approved

Industrial action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) severely affected most Great Western Railways routes.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “RMT will continue to negotiate in good faith but we cannot tolerate being bullied or hoodwinked into accepting a raw deal for our members.

“The Government need to stop their interference in these disputes so the employers can come to a negotiated settlement with us.”

The sides are as far apart as ever in resolving the row despite months of talks aimed at breaking the deadlock.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “It’s clear, from their co-ordinated approach, that the unions are hell-bent on causing as much misery as possible to the very same taxpayers who stumped up £600 per household to ensure not a single rail worker lost their job during the pandemic.

“Sadly, union chiefs have short memories and will be repaying this act of good faith by ruining millions of hard-working people’s summer plans.”

Mr Shapps has written to the head of the rail union to demand that Mr Lynch put a pay offer to a members’ vote after Mr Lynch warned earlier on Saturday that further rail strikes were “very likely”.

 

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.