BRITS have been warned to brace for May Bank Holiday travel chaos with train drivers set to launch three days of strikes.
The Aslef union have declared that they will be taking industrial action once again next month.
AlamyTrain drivers are set to launch a fresh set of strikes[/caption]
PAAslef union members will be striking again next month led by Mick Whelan (centre)[/caption]
The fresh strikes will commence from May 7 and last until May 9 amid a long-running pay dispute.
The union said it had not met employers or the government for more than a year, accusing ministers of “giving up” trying to resolve the near two-year dispute.
In total, train drivers at 16 rail companies will be striking during the week of the May bank holiday.
Members will walk out at c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line on Tuesday May 7.
They will strike on Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains on Wednesday May 8.
Meanwhile, LNER, Northern Trains, and TransPennine Trains will be affected on Thursday May 9.
Members will also refuse to work non-contractual overtime from Monday May 6 to Saturday May 11.
Aslef said train drivers have not had an increase in salary for five years, since their last pay deals expired in 2019.
The union said that after its members voted overwhelmingly in February to continue taking industrial action, it asked the train operating companies to hold talks.
It comes as a members of the Aslef union walked out on Friday at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services across England.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the union had seen “neither hide nor hair” from the Government since the beginning of the year, with “one token meeting” on January 6.
Mr Whelan said his members “don’t want to be” on strike but felt they had “no choice” in a bid to find a resolution.
“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,” says the general secretary.
And he said the year-old offer of a 4 per cent pay rise followed by a second 4 per cent increase was now “dead in the water”.
Mr Whelan added: “Drivers would not vote to strike if they thought an offer was acceptable.
“They don’t. And that offer – now a year old – is dead in the water.”
Rail minister Huw Merriman confirmed he attended the January meeting, saying he had left unions since then to discuss the UK Government’s pay offer with the Rail Delivery Group, the body representing train companies.
Mr Merriman said there was an offer on the table for train drivers and implored union chiefs to put it to members.