LNER ASLEF strike on 20th April

MikeWM · 10 Apr 2024

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet, and I was planning to travel on LNER on the 20th between Newcastle and Peterborough (though I haven't reserved anything specific) - is anything likely to be running? Should I be making alternative plans? The journey isn't time-critical but I don't particularly want to spend the entire day on overcrowded alternative trains.

https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/industrial-action/

Last updated: 8 April 2024

ASLEF has announced its drivers will take strike action at LNER on Saturday 20 April.

LNER services for Saturday 20 April are temporarily off-sale while we work out the impact this action will have on our timetable. We aim to get the amended timetable published at least 7 days prior to the strike date and customers who have already booked to travel should receive information about their options from their original point of sale.

This only appeared on National Rail's site today, unless I missed it. Presumably they did give the usual 2 weeks' notice and it just hasn't yet been picked up anywhere? Either way, the very short notice of this is very unhelpful.

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YorkRailFan · 10 Apr 2024

MikeWM said:
This only appeared on National Rail's site today, unless I missed it. Presumably they did give the usual 2 weeks' notice and it just hasn't yet been picked up anywhere? Either way, the very short notice of this is very unhelpful.

ASLEF put out a press release on 4th April. As the ASLEF website shows a "403 Error Forbidden" I could only get the following from their Twitter:

Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, said: ‘Train drivers are fed up with the bad faith shown by this company, we are not prepared to put up with being bullied and pushed about by a company that thinks it can break agreements whenever it feels like it.

https://x.com/ASLEFunion/status/1775857442456306057

MikeWM said:
This only appeared on National Rail's site today, unless I missed it. Presumably they did give the usual 2 weeks' notice and it just hasn't yet been picked up anywhere? Either way, the very short notice of this is very unhelpful.

LNER said the following on their Twitter on 4th April as well:

We are aware of industrial action announced on Sat 20 April for LNER by members of drivers' union ASLEF. LNER trains for Sat 20 April will be taken off-sale while we work out how this action affects our timetable.

https://x.com/LNER/status/1775857131691889078

They then link to the same website as you do which was last updated on 8th April.

janb · 10 Apr 2024

Announced on 4th April, but as we know not all things get equal media attention.

https://aslef.org.uk/publications/aslef-strike-and-overtime-ban-lner

Members at LNER will take strike action on Saturday 20 April and refuse to work non-contractual overtime from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 April because of the company’s failure to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery.

MikeWM · 10 Apr 2024

I've just dropped £10 on a couple of 'insurance' advances so I can go via the WCML if necessary. I'd rather not, as it will take a lot longer so involve leaving earlier - and I was hoping to have the morning in Newcastle - but probably worth it to keep my options open.

I suppose XC to Doncaster and EMR via the joint to Peterborough is an alternative, but I imagine the latter would be *very very* busy if LNER end up not running anything. Unfortunately I don't see in the routing guide that it is allowed to do TPE to Leeds, Northern to Sheffield and then EMR via Nottingham, which is a shame as that appears a logical alternative.

skyhigh · 10 Apr 2024

LNER normally run a reduced service on a strike date. I would expect that what will run will be the same as the last ASLEF strike date (which is still available to view on RTT).

MikeWM · 10 Apr 2024

skyhigh said:
LNER normally run a reduced service on a strike date. I would expect that what will run will be the same as the last ASLEF strike date (which is still available to view on RTT).

Thanks - good to see some things running, though looks a bit haphazard and with nothing in the daytime direct from NCL to PBO (only 0730 and 1758!), but there are some more options with changes at York or Doncaster.

I guess I'll decide closer to the time, based on what LNER actually end up running, and whether I'm in the mood for a long (but probably more interesting!) diversion via the WCML.

Thebaz · 10 Apr 2024

I have a question about strikes - may it should be a separate thread? Anyway, say all the ASLEF drivers go on strike, what happens to those drivers who are in a different union or who aren't unionised? Do they turn up to work but have nothing to do? I'm presuming the TOC wouldn't run a service if there were only a handful of drivers on?

MikeWM · 20 Apr 2024

Well, they're running some trains today, but its a very thinned service, just 3 trains all day from Edinburgh, a few more from Newcastle giving a roughly 2 hour service to London, and 2 hourly York terminators providing the stops south of Doncaster, plus a few oddly-spaced Leeds services.

Without any direct trains from Newcastle to Peterborough, this is a good example of where a publically available timetable, even if only a PDF on a website, would be a lot easier for planning, than trying to deduce the service pattern from a journey planner. But that's not what the railway wants to do anymore, unfortunately.

Anyway, will be in Peterborough shortly, going via the WCML would have taken more than twice as long and involved getting up earlier, so the ECML seemed more tempting in the end. Trains are busy but not extremely so. I used one advance anyway, so I've only lost £4, I can live with that 8-)

DoubleO · 20 Apr 2024

MikeWM said:
Well, they're running some trains today, but its a very thinned service, just 3 trains all day from Edinburgh, a few more from Newcastle giving a roughly 2 hour service to London, and 2 hourly York terminators providing the stops south of Doncaster, plus a few oddly-spaced Leeds services.

Without any direct trains from Newcastle to Peterborough, this is a good example of where a publically available timetable, even if only a PDF on a website, would be a lot easier for planning, than trying to deduce the service pattern from a journey planner. But that's not what the railway wants to do anymore, unfortunately.

Anyway, will be in Peterborough shortly, going via the WCML would have taken more than twice as long and involved getting up earlier, so the ECML seemed more tempting in the end. Trains are busy but not extremely so. I used one advance anyway, so I've only lost £4, I can live with that

There was a publicly available timetable available via LNER's website

MikeWM · 20 Apr 2024

DoubleO said:
There was a publicly available timetable available via LNER's website

Good, but it certainly wasn't obvious how to get to it as I couldn't find it yesterday, and I can't find it now. Any navigation clues, for future reference if nothing else?

DoubleO · 20 Apr 2024

MikeWM said:
Good, but it certainly wasn't obvious how to get to it as I couldn't find it yesterday, and I can't find it now. Any navigation clues, for future reference if nothing else?

Industrial action

Find out if industrial action could impact your journey.

www.lner.co.uk

MikeWM · 20 Apr 2024

DoubleO said:
Industrial action

Find out if industrial action could impact your journey.

www.lner.co.uk

Thanks, but I don't see a timetable there, just a list of first and last trains. Those have a 'timetable' link but that gives a page that has the *regular* timetable as a PDF (ie. the one not running today), a list of upcoming changes that says 'You can find out more about these planned timetable changes below, including copies of our amended timetables which you can view, download or print' - but none of the listed changes actually appear to have any 'copies of our amended timetables' to view, download or print - and there is a search at the top that they call 'timetables' but is actually a journey planner.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I was looking for an actual 'old-school' timetable, ie. that shows all the services they are running and what stations they serve and when.

Also as an aside, the LNER site no longer appears to work on Firefox 78esr, which is pretty much the first site I've encounted with that issue, and I'm not aware there's any particularly good reason that it shouldn't (except for bad coding).

bcarmicle · 20 Apr 2024

If you select a date under "Select your travel date to see if you're affected by Industrial Action and get more travel information.", it'll show a link to the timetable for that date.

DoubleO · 20 Apr 2024

bcarmicle said:
If you select a date under "Select your travel date to see if you're affected by Industrial Action and get more travel information.", it'll show a link to the timetable for that date.

Correct

MikeWM · 21 Apr 2024

bcarmicle said:
If you select a date under "Select your travel date to see if you're affected by Industrial Action and get more travel information.", it'll show a link to the timetable for that date.

Ah - turns out I wasn't seeing that section of the page because I didn't have the relevant cookies enabled on my desktop browser (or previously, was using Private mode on Safari on my iPad) - why you need cookies enabled to view a PDF timetable is perhaps a mystery for the ages. But at least they did make one.

DoubleO said:
Correct

Indeed, and thanks, I'll know the trick for next time. It seems a lot harder to get to than necessary though.

TreacleMiller · 21 Apr 2024

Thebaz said:
I have a question about strikes - may it should be a separate thread? Anyway, say all the ASLEF drivers go on strike, what happens to those drivers who are in a different union or who aren't unionised? Do they turn up to work but have nothing to do? I'm presuming the TOC wouldn't run a service if there were only a handful of drivers on?

Baz,

The vast majority of drivers at the company are in Aslef. Each depot may have one or two drivers that have either left the union so they can continue working rest days, or have decided to break strikes. There is at my depot.

These drivers may or may not work strike days. However I've not known any of them to work on a strike day. They do break the overtime and RDW ban which is why they aren't in the union.

There are several managers and trainer managers from the training school who all competent to drive.... Though in some cases not as competent as is made out. There have been a number of instances of incidents, some recorded others.... Well.

It's these guys that are on their base salary plus £500 per uncovered shift. In some cases sharing work between couples or combining an uncovered drive with assessments or training. Its this point amongst others that is causing a big divide between drivers and the company.

Thebaz · 22 Apr 2024

Interesting, thanks

kw12 · 23 Apr 2024

TreacleMiller said:
It's these guys that are on their base salary plus £500 per uncovered shift. In some cases sharing work between couples or combining an uncovered drive with assessments or training. Its this point amongst others that is causing a big divide between drivers and the company.

Why?

WAB · 23 Apr 2024

kw12 said:
Why?

It's considered scabbing - on Twitter, an LNER driver was saying that he heckled a DM at Kings Cross for scabbing.

Also, it has been suggested that contingent drivers and train managers may not be as competent due to lesser training and limited time on the frontlines.

Mag_seven · 23 Apr 2024

WAB said:
an LNER driver was saying that he heckled a DM at Kings Cross for scabbing.

Verbally abusing a fellow employee in public is completely unacceptable behaviour regardless of how high passions are running.

Kite159 · 23 Apr 2024

WAB said:
It's considered scabbing - on Twitter, an LNER driver was saying that he heckled a DM at Kings Cross for scabbing.

Also, it has been suggested that contingent drivers and train managers may not be as competent due to lesser training and limited time on the frontlines.

And also a Northern driver saying he abused a LNER manager at Edinburgh by shouting Scab the last round of strikes (start of April).

Sadly such people still live in the 1970s with attitudes like that.

LNER ASLEF strike on 20th April

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