Southern Rail passengers will be forced to endure mid-summer travel misery as workers stage a 24-hour strike.

The walkout, by members of the RMT union, is the latest in a long-running and bitter dispute with Southern over its plans to extend driver-only trains and to remove guards from services.

It coincides with an ongoing overtime ban in place for workers who belong to the train drivers’ union Aslef, which has been in place since last month.

When is the strike?

Workers will stage the walkout on Monday 10 July from 00:01 to 23:59.

Who is striking?

Guards and drivers on Southern Rail who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) workers’ union will take part in the rail strike. Their walkout is independent of a separate overtime ban currently in place by members of the train drivers’ union Aslef, which it says accounts for more than 95 per cent of Southern Rail drivers.

A spokesperson for Southern confirmed that any non-RMT staff due to work on Monday were expected to. She added: “We hope that most RMT members covered by the strike and due to work will come to work.”

Why are the Southern workers striking?

The 24-hour walkout is the latest development in a long-running row between workers and Southern over what the union describes as the safety impact of Southern’s removal of guards from services and the extension of so-called driver-only operation. Driver-only operation would see a switch of the responsibility for closing train doors from conductors to drivers.