Train strikes leave disability campaigner unable to get to royal party to celebrate achievements
A fresh series of train strikes means a disability campaigner who was nominated to attend the Royal Garden Party for his work on railway accessibility - won't be able to get there, as Rosie Dowsing report.
A disability campaigner says he feels totally let down that he'll miss out on attending the Royal Garden Party, due to train strikes.
Cameron Wood from Hereford was invited to the party at Buckingham Palace after being nominated by the Department for Transport, for his work on improving disability access across the region's rail network.
Mr Wood worked with railway stations across the Midlands to get better accessibility signage for those needing assistance.
The Aslef union announced this week that train drivers across 16 rail operators will stage a series of fresh strikes on the 7th, 8th and 9th of May, in a long-running pay dispute.
Aslef says train drivers haven’t had a payrise for 5 years. But the Government says it has made a pay offer which would bring train drivers’ salaries up to an average of £65,000 - almost twice the average salary in the UK.
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group told ITV News Central:
"This wholly unnecessary strike action called by the ASLEF leadership will sadly disrupt customers and businesses once again, while further damaging the railway at a time when taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running.
“We continue to seek a fair agreement with the ASLEF leadership which both rewards our people, gives our customers more reliable services and makes sure the railway isn’t taking more than its fair share from taxpayers.
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