There is likely to be disruption to trains during the first week of July as train drivers will refuse to work overtime.
Many of the train companies are dependent to some degree on train drivers offering to work overtime to fill gaps in the timetables. However, unlike say a national strike where you know there will or won’t be trains on a set day, an overtime ban could affect services at random times, causing confusion for passengers for the whole week.
The overtime ban is being called by ASLEF, and will run from Monday 3rd to Saturday 8th July inclusive.
The union says that its drivers will withdraw non-contractual overtime — which is when drivers are working on a day off.
The worst affected train company had been Transpennine Express, where services are cancelled at short notice due to an ongoing dispute. That appeared to have been settled when ASLEF dropped the ban last week. But TPE is one of the train companies to be affected by the new ban on overtime work.
It will affect the following train companies:
- Avanti West Coast (a full strike on 2nd July as well)
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- Chiltern
- East Midlands Railway
- Gatwick Express
- Greater Anglia
- Great Western Railway
- Great Northern
- LNER (overtime ban starts 1st July)
- Northern
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western Railway
- Thameslink
- Transpennine Express
- West Midlands Trains
General secretary Mick Whelan said: “Once again we find ourselves with no alternative but to take this action. We have continually come to the negotiating table in good faith, seeking to resolve the dispute. Sadly, it is clear from the actions of both the train operating companies and the government that they do not want an end to the dispute. Their goals appear to be to continue industrial strife and to do down our industry.”
The overtime ban announcement comes a week after ASLEF members voted overwhelmingly to continue their pay strike action.
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