Hundreds of rail services across large parts of Britain were cancelled on Sunday, as many train drivers and other on-board staff refused to work overtime shifts on the day of England’s Euro 2024 final.
Northern, Great Western Railway (GWR), London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway all cancelled services scheduled to run on Sunday at short notice.
Many train drivers and other crew members do not have Sunday working included in their contracts, with numerous operators often relying on them volunteering to work extra paid shifts to run timetabled services on that day.
Unions must give 14 days notice of official strike action, but drivers can wait until just a handful of days in advance before confirming if they will work on a rest day.
GWR passengers were advised not to attempt to travel after 6pm on Sunday, as services were expected to be severely disrupted.
The operator said “sickness and England reaching the final of the Euros (is) likely to reduce the number of colleagues available for overtime shifts”.
This led to disruption on routes between London Paddington and places like Bristol, Swindon and Cheltenham.
Publicly-owned Northern told passengers that some routes “in and around the North West may be subject to disruption and very short notice cancellations”.
The operator axed all services on a number of routes, such as between Manchester Victoria and Clitheroe, between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke on Trent, and between Preston and Colne.
London Northwestern Railway said it expected to be hit by a “lack of available traincrew at key locations across our network”.
There were similar issues on the day of England’s opening Euro 2024 match against Serbia on June 16, which was also a Sunday.
Transport Secretary Lousie Haigh said: “Fourteen years without a workforce strategy has left our railways understaffed, reliant on voluntary working and lurching from one crisis to the next.
“Our urgent priority is to reset workforce relations and put passengers first.”
A spokesman for drivers’ union Aslef said: “Train drivers rostered to work turned up and worked. The train companies have problems persuading drivers to work overtime but overtime is voluntary, not mandatory.
“Some drivers, like many people, are on holiday, and some like to watch football. Although many, especially in Scotland and Wales, are not England fans.
“But the real trouble, and the truth, unpalatable though it might be, is that none of the privatised train companies employs enough drivers to deliver the services they promise passengers, and the Government, they will run.
“That is why the failed privatisation of Britain’s railways is about to hit the buffers in the King’s Speech this week when it will be announced that our railways are coming back into public ownership to be run, properly, as a public service, not for private profit.”
Ms Haigh’s predecessor Mark Harper repeatedly called for an end to the rail industry relying on staff volunteering to work on rest days.
This has been a key issue in disputes between unions and train operators.
Labour has pledged to bring all train services in England into public ownership.
The party has said it will do this as contracts expire, which is believed to require new legislation, or by ending agreements early in cases of poor performance.
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