Union bosses behind this week’s Southern Rail walkout say strikes on the UK’s trains could last for a decade, the transport minister said today.
London and the rest of the country’s rail services could face 10 more years of strikes, train drivers’ union Aslef reportedly told the government’s transport secretary.
The startling comments come as half a million commuters were told not to take Southern Rail trains today at the start of what is thought to be the worst train strike in a more than 20 years.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, warned him of years of further strikes in a conversation had during the summer, the Times reported.
Mr Grayling said: “With virtually his first breath he promised me 'ten years of industrial action'.”
The row is over the introduction of driver-only trains, which the unions claim are unsafe.
Services on Southern will be crippled during the three-day strike, lasting Tuesday, Wednesday and on Friday.
It is thought to be the biggest strike since a walkout by signal workers in 1994.
Govia Thameslink Railway last week failed in their last-ditch High Court bid to avert the strike.
