Hundreds of thousands of rail passengers face misery this week with a two-day strike by guards. The industrial action is over plans to change the role of guards on trains operated by Southern.
Southern was forced to cancel more than 700 trains - a third of the service - during the first day of a strike action by guards. It is thought up to 300,000 passengers in Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire were hit with cancelled trains or having to make alternative plans.
The strike ends at 11am on Wednesday, but disruption will continue all day as trains and staff will be in the wrong part of the network.
Southern say it did run 1,400 trains. This was possible because 40 per cent run without guards and managers were operating other services. The was in line with the planned strike service.
The dispute centres on changes to the role of the guard, with drivers closing train doors. Southern says it wants to make staff more visible and new On-Board Conductors would spend more time helping passengers. They say there will be no job losses or pay cuts.
Railway station staff are to be balloted for industrial action over ticket office closures & changes to Southern trains' working practices.
Hundreds of thousands of rail passengers have been affected by the cancellation of hundreds of trains in a 2-day walkout by train guards.
Hundreds of thousands of rail passengers in Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire are facing two days of misery as conductors go on strike.