Train strikes aren’t just disruptive – they’re dangerous… especially on New Year’s Eve

If you thought train strikes might be a thing of the past under a Keir Starmer government, think again. Avanti West Coast workers have announced they are to stage a five-month-long series of strikes beginning on New Year’s Eve – which will disrupt travel between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

The industrial action comes after workers rejected the latest deal aimed at resolving a dispute over rest day working. And the dates affected? Well, according to the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), its members working as train managers will strike on New Year’s Eve, 2 January and every Sunday between 12 January and 25 May. That’s right – every single Sunday.

If your heart sank on hearing the news, you’re not alone… especially when you’re used to living in the capital. When it comes to the London Underground, any seasoned Londoner will know that Tube strikes are just part of the gritty, frustrating, constantly surprising fabric of city life. And, true to form, the Tube has been swamped with the threat of strikes (though they were then called off) during the latter part of this year.

It’s surely no surprise that as negotiations rumble on, public support wanes – I know I have lost sympathy for it all now. It feels like nothing more than a racket.

But it’s not just the inconvenience of it all – though any strike, in any part of the country, is hideously, achingly inconvenient. It seems like a million years ago, but before the pandemic (when everyone was expected in the office five days a week and “WFH” simply didn’t exist), I vividly remember the pain of squeezing onto cramped buses first thing in the morning because of industrial action.

I have flashbacks of the driver inexplicably kicking everyone off miles away from where they were going and hundreds of commuters weaving and jostling through Oxford Street like salmon, not knowing how on earth we’d ever make it to our destination.

Although they happen slightly less frequently now (and are often threatened but then called off), strike days still feel like warfare. You have to prepare yourself for battle before even having your morning coffee; there’s no room for error or indecision. And it’s exhausting. It is even worse for those on…