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A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson, said: “This is a hugely disappointing announcement from Aslef and will cause misery, frustration and anger for millions – including those attending the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – and take money out of an industry still recovering when passenger numbers overall remain 20% below pre-pandemic levels, making it much harder to give a pay rise in the future.
"We want to give our people an increase in pay, but asking taxpayers to shoulder even more of the burden when they have already contributed £600 per household during the pandemic, or asking passengers to fund it by paying more for their tickets, isn’t fair or sustainable. Instead, we need to make changes to long-outdated working practices so we can adapt to post-covid travel patterns and give our passengers a more punctual and reliable service.
"Rather than staging more counterproductive strikes which will cause further damage to the sector and encourage people to stay away, we ask Aslef to come to the table so we can deliver a fair deal that works for our people, our passengers and for taxpayers."
