Southern rail strike: Boy, 9, writes letter pleading with train company to resolve dispute

Southern strike: 9-year-old Frankie Cottrell has written to Southern asking them to sort out their differences with workers
Clive Cottrell
Patrick Grafton-Green11 January 2017

A nine-year-old boy has written a letter pleading with Southern to resolve its long-running dispute with workers, telling them “at school we are taught to negotiate with each other”.

In the letter, Frankie Cottrell writes: “Please can you sort this out as soon as possible so my mum, dad and other commuters can get back to normal life again.”

Southern workers began a three-day strike on Tuesday as part of a dispute with the company over driverless trains.

Frankie's father Clive, who works in the capital, shared the note on Twitter, claiming his son had written it "spontaneously" before sending it to Southern and their local MP.

Frankie, who lives in Hove, says in the letter that both his parents work in London, and that he is tired of them coming home late because of rail strikes.

He writes: “They pay a lot of money for their season tickets/oyster cards and are not getting value for their money.

“Surely there must be a way to solve these problems.

"At school we are taught to negotiate with each other to sort out our differences and clearly you have not learnt to do this.”

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