Three days of strikes by drivers on Southern Rail will go ahead this week after the firm failed in a Court of Appeal bid for an injunction to stop industrial action by members of ASLEF union.
Charles Horton, chief executive of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) which runs Southern services, said: ‘Naturally we are disappointed with this decision. We had a responsibility to the travelling public to do what we could to stop this unprecedented strike action.’
‘Regrettably, there will be no train services for passengers tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. We strongly advise people not to travel. In addition, there will be severe disruption every day during the ongoing industrial action because of the union's overtime ban.’
Mr Horton added: ‘We will now be asking ACAS to convene urgent and immediate talks between GTR and ASLEF; talks that we hoped to get moving over the weekend, but ASLEF would not agree. Our aim is to find a resolution to their dispute so we can bring an end to the misery being suffered by the travelling public.’
In a statement before the court hearing, ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said that the union was ‘willing to go to ACAS last week but GTR Southern refused because they wanted to go to court’.
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