York: Aslef train strikes announced after May Day Bank Holiday

Those travelling between Bank Holiday Monday (May 6) and Saturday (May 11) are urged to check ahead as disruption is likely.

The Aslef drivers’ union is embroiled in a near two-year long dispute, with no talks held for more than a year.

Drivers at 16 train companies will strike for 24 hours on three consecutive dates between Tuesday and Thursday, and there will be an overtime ban on all train companies from Monday to Saturday.

On Thursday drivers will walk at York-based LNER, which operates the East Coast Main Line; Northern, which runs services between York and Leeds; and TransPennine Express, whose services run from York to cities including Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, and to Malton and Scarborough.

Passengers at York railway station as more strikes are announced (Image: Dylan Connell)

Rail companies said they will operate as many trains as possible but there will be regional variations.

In some places there may be no trains at all on strike days, and services that are running will typically run between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

Northern and TransPennine Express said they will operate no services on Thursday.

LNER said it will be running a reduced service on the strike day.

Those who want to get a refund or amend tickets for journeys already booked can do so without the industry fee, the rail firm said.

Union accuses government of 'giving up' trying to resolve pay dispute 

Aslef said its members have not had a pay rise for five years.

The union has accused the government of “giving up” trying to resolve the dispute.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary (Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “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.”

He 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.”

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A Rail Delivery Group (RDG) spokesperson said the rail industry is "working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day”.

They added: “We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.

“It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £54 million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.”