People hoping to make the most of the first weekends of the school holidays could face more disruption after another rail strike was announced.
Members of Aslef at Greater Anglia, along with seven other rail companies, will take to the picket lines on Saturday, July 30 after it was confirmed last week that strikes would be held on July 23.
With schools set to finish for the end of term on Friday, July 22, it could mean many travellers could be forced to rethink plans as dozens of services could be cancelled.
During the previous ASLEF strike on Saturday, July 2, more than 90pc of Greater Anglia services were unable to run.
The Norwich to London Liverpool Street Intercity service, which stops in Ipswich, ran six trains in each direction across the whole day.
There were severely reduced services between Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria and Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street, with far fewer trains than usual.
In addition to Greater Anglia, the other members of Aslef who are planning strike action on July 30 are at Arriva Rail London, Chiltern Railways, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains.
The action is in addition to a planned strike by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at train companies and Network Rail on July 27 and by TSSA members on Avanti West Cost on the same day.
Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: “We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are the result of a failure of negotiation – and this union, since I was elected general secretary in 2011, has only ever been on strike, until this year, for a handful of days.
“We don’t want to inconvenience passengers, not least because our friends and families use public transport too, and we believe in building trust in the railways in Britain, and we don’t want to lose money by going on strike.
“But we’ve been forced into this position by the train companies, driven by the Tory government. The drivers at the companies where we are striking have had a real-terms pay cut over the last three years, since April 2019.
“These companies are offering us nothing, saying their hands have been tied by the government.
“Strike action is, now, the only option available but we are always open to talks if the train companies, or the government, want to talk to us and make a fair and sensible offer.”
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