No end to disruption

Thousands of commuters using South West Trains, which operates services into mainline Waterloo station, have suffered four successive weekdays of strikes ordered by the RMT union.

They face another 48-hour stoppage in two weeks and undoubtedly more if the complex dispute over pay and the disciplining of union officials is not settled before then.

The union ordered the stoppages after its demand for pay parity for 2,100 station staff and train guards with drivers. Members of rival union Aslef received 7.6 per cent. SWT says it has now imposed a 7.6 per cent rise on striking staff, but the union argues that when employees come to receive the money it will be worth only four per cent.

A concurrent dispute involves the demotion from driver to ticket inspector - for alleged repeated safety offences - of union activist Greg Tucker, a move which had reduced his previous £31,000-a-year salary by half. The union alleges the "targeting" of other officials by SWT.