Return to daily travel chaos likely after talks break down between union and rail chiefs over driver-only trains

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The respite from severe disruption for Southern rail passengers looks to be over, with train drivers refusing to work overtime from the end of May.

Drivers’ union Aslef announced the ban on Wednesday morning, a day after talks broke down with the Southern operator, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), in the long-running dispute over driver-only trains.

On Tuesday, the RMT union called a one-day strike by its onboard crew members on Southern trains for 30 May.

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The drivers’ move is likely to cause bigger headaches for Southern and its passengers. A previous overtime ban that ran from December to early January led to many services being cancelled and branch lines closed for weeks, even on non-strike days. GTR does not employ enough drivers to cover its timetables without overtime.

Aslef’s leadership has twice presented a deal, covering working practices and safety, to its members for approval, but on both occasions it was rejected by drivers, albeit by a narrower margin in the most recent ballot in early April.

Southern drivers are overwhelmingly opposed to changes to the role of conductors that have made them responsible for closing doors. The mandate for action from a vote in December saw 96% in favour of an overtime ban.

The union’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: “We have been talking to Southern to try to resolve the outstanding issues in a way which worked for drivers, passengers and the company. Unfortunately the company has refused to move its position so we have, reluctantly, informed them that our members will refuse to work overtime from the end of this month.”

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Nick Brown, the chief operating officer at GTR, said: “After over five months of intense negotiations and two peace deals agreed and recommended by the Aslef executive, we are dismayed the union leadership is taking this action, which is designed to impact as many of our passengers as possible.

“Driver-controlled operation with on-board supervisors was fully implemented back in January and thanks to this we are running more trains than before and our service has improved for five consecutive months.

“We’re safely running over 80,000 trains a month with drivers controlling the doors across our network – we’re sorry that passengers will suffer as a result of this unnecessary action.”

GTR said it would publish a contingency timetable as soon as possible.