Tuesday 21 June 2022 04:55 PM Rail and Tube strikes: Final services out of London are ALREADY leaving trends now

Margaret Thatcher's arch-nemesis Arthur Scargill joined rail workers on the picket line today as unions ground the country to a halt - while desperate commuters scrambled for the last train home, with the final service out of London leaving at 6.05pm.

The former firebrand leader of the National Union of Miners, who unleashed a wave of strike action in the mid-1980s in a bid to stop the Prime Ministers' pit closures and topple the Tory government, wore his 1984 'safety first' cap as he stood on the picket line in Wakefield.

A relic from the final wheezing gasps of the 20th Century, 'Barmy Arthur', now 84, ordered tens of thousands of flying pickets to power stations, coal and coke depots in a doomed attempt to stop electricity production and cripple the economy during the 1984-85 miners' strike.

Today's strikes saw an extremely limited service running on the tracks across the country, with city workers now fearing they may be stuck in London if they didn't make it to the station in time for an exceptionally early last train.

Britain's 13 operators caught up in the industrial action are not running any services after 6.30pm but some lines are closed completely and the latest Scotland-bound service left Euston at 1.30pm. The last train south to England from Edinburgh via the east coast was 12.30pm and 3pm from Glasgow via the west coast mainline.

The last train to the West Country from Paddington leaves at 5.42pm or 5.50pm from Waterloo, while the final services to East Anglia from Liverpool Street are 5.40pm. The last train from Victoria to the south coast including Brighton is 5.35pm and 6pm for Gatwick.

Nicole Perl, 33 was forced to spend £50 on a taxi to make it to London Euston Station on time to make the last Scotland-bound train which would take her to her home in Carlisle.

She said: 'I checked the trains yesterday when I arrived back from Stansted Airport and they seemed to be running fairly regularly, every two hours or so up until 6pm and it seemed to be the case this morning as well.

'But when I checked again at noon it said the last train was at 1.30pm so it was a bit of a rush to get here. It was quite stressful and sweaty'.

Another passenger, who did not want to be identified, said they had spent £100 on a taxi as their planned public transport route would not get them to the station in time.

Tempers flared today after furious commuters were forced to battle for buses, drive or cycle to the office during the biggest rail strike in 30 years – as union baron Mick Lynch caught a cab after plunging Britain into chaos.

More than 50,000 members have walked out over demands for a 11 per cent pay rise as millions battled into work, were forced to work from home or unable to earn money at all this week in a hammer blow to the already creaking economy.

The UK has been forced into another de facto lockdown that could be the death knell for many small businesses who have already been struggling for the past two years due to the pandemic and were just getting back on their feet.

Andrew Haines, Chief Executive of Network Rail, said the strikes are 'devastating' for the country, declaring at an empty Waterloo: 'This is a wasteland. It's like the darkest days of COVID'. He admitted it's 'likely' the rail strikes will go ahead on Thursday and Saturday - but added: 'I will do everything I can to try turn that around'. 

And the frustrations of millions was reflected in an incident in east London this morning when a commuter stood in front of a 123 bus between Ilford and Lordship Lane, Tottenham, after it refused to stop for dozens waiting at a bus stop. Witnesses said the irate man had been waiting for 30 minutes but bus after bus flew by. Commuters could be heard angrily talking on their phones about the 'f****** rail strikes' as the drama unfolded.

It was filmed by a witness named David, believed to be a NHS worker, who said: 'Since 6:30am waiting for a bus but the buses still passing without stopping. And my patients and coworkers still waiting for me because of the Rail strikes. And we are not allowed to strike. And my salary is totally worse than the ones that are striking. The country needs a change'.

It came as RMT boss Mr Lynch was pictured jumped into a taxi in central London - a luxury not likely to be affordable to the swathes of Brits desperately trying to get to work - after dominating the airwaves this morning, in which he defended his union's industrial action that has ground huge areas of the country to a halt. 

Much of Britain has no passenger trains for the entire day, including most of Scotland and Wales, the whole of Cornwall and Dorset, and places such as Chester, Hull, Lincoln and Worcester cut off. If services are going ahead they will be limited with no trains travelling after 6.30pm this evening.

London's Tube network is also shut down, forcing commuters on to rammed buses or into their cars. There were long queues on the roads including worse than usual traffic at hotspots such as the Blackwall Tunnel in Greenwich, south-east London, and roads in the west close to Heathrow,

Traffic data from TomTom showed that a 30-minute journey was taking almost an hour this morning with traffic almost 30 per cent higher than yesterday. 

The RMT union has been accused of 'punishing millions of innocent people' by pressing ahead with the walkouts, despite rail bosses offering workers a pay rise of at least 3 per cent – the same given last year to NHS staff who battled the Covid-19 crisis. They want an 11 per cent rise to match inflation levels.

Today its militant left-wing leader Mick Lynch threatened to 'co-ordinate industrial action across every town and city in Britain' amid warnings they will strike until Christmas over pay and jobs. 

Speaking outside a deserted Euston Station he said: 'If the Government doesn't change direction, I believe more strike action is inevitable. We as trade unions need to synchronise'. He said striking would continue for 'as long as it needs to go on'.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps soon hit back and accused Mr Lynch of wanting to transform himself into one of the '1970s union barons'. 

Labour is in disarray over the strikes as MPs ignored a warning from their leader Sir Keir Starmer and joined picket lines this morning as Britain's railway stations, usually rammed with commuters were deserted. Even his deputy Angela Rayner was in revolt, insisting those on strike had 'no choice'.

Train passengers are facing chaos with half of the UK's rail network closed completely and only a fifth of services running due to the biggest strike by rail workers for a generation.

Those who struggled in by train said that a ten to 15 minute journey by train into the capital took 90 minutes or more.  People who had to go into the city either rammed on to buses that were packed at 5.30am or walked or cycled. 

Some paid a small fortune for black taxis or mini cabs. Uber users in London are being hit with a surge in prices amid strikes on the railways and London Underground. A three-mile journey from Paddington to King's Cross was estimated to cost £27 at 8.45am - more than double the usual price.

In another return to lockdown Britain, schools were forced to have teach virtually because children couldn't get it. GCSE and A-level exams are disrupted, with children sleeping on floors of classmates so they don't risk missing them. The NHS said it was open as usual but patients were forced to miss appointments because they simply couldn't get there.

As Britain went back into lockdown because of nationwide strikes, it also emerged: 

Unions threaten to shut down towns and cities in the UK unless workers receive a huge pay rise and Government drops plans to use agency workers. Grant Shapps says that RMT leader Mick Lynch wishes to become a union baron reminiscent of the 1970s;  Wales and regions of the UK are cut off by strikes. Cornwall and Dorset have no services nor do Chester and Hull. Tube largely shut down with Uber cashing in, charging £27 for just a three-mile journey;  Business leaders say the strike action will send some small firms as well as pubs and restaurants to the wall;  Labour is in meltdown over rail strikes today as a slew of MPs ignored Sir Keir Starmer's orders against joining picket lines. Even his deputy Angela Rayner sided with the strikers and said 'Workers have been left with no choice'; SCHOOLS: A-Level and GCSE students were forced to sleep on friends' floors or travel for up to four hours just to get to their exams this morning; NHS: Patients were forced to miss important appointments because they could not get to their local hospitals or medical centres; 

Transport for London and Network Rail's websites crashed under the weight of traffic this morning as people desperately tried to find a route to get to work or school. 

Transport for London said that up until 10am this morning, the Underground saw 80,000 entries and exits across the network.

This was about 4 per cent of levels before the pandemic – and was also down 95 per cent on Tuesday last week.

Meanwhile there were 1.42million journeys on the buses up until 10am today.

This was around 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels - but was up 7 per cent on last Tuesday.

The rail industry will also take a £150million hit at a time when pre-pandemic passenger numbers are yet to return. The taxpayer has also pumped in £16billion to keep the network going through the pandemic. The walkouts will hinder millions trying to get to work, stop patients attending vital health appointments and inflict undue stress on students sitting exams.

Boris Johnson warned train passengers they must 'stay the course' in the face of the 'unnecessary aggravation' caused by rail strikes.

The Prime Minister told a meeting of the Cabinet that reforms are vital for the rail industry and those who work in it.

Millions of people are suffering disruption as only a fifth of trains are running on Tuesday and half of lines are closed.

Services are generally restricted to main lines, but even those are only open between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

Around 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 13 train operators have walked out in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Mr Johnson said: 'I say this to the country as a whole, we need to get ready to stay the course.

'To stay the course, because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways are in the interests of the travelling public, they will help to cut costs for farepayers up and down the country.'

But the modernisation programme is also in the interests of workers because 'if we don't do this, these great companies, this great industry, will face further financial pressure, it will go bust and the result will be they have to hike up the cost of tickets still further', he warned.

That would result in the 'disaster' of declining rail use.

Usually busy stations such as London Euston are nearly deserted except for union picket lines.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said ministers would change the law so firms could bring in agency workers to minimise disruption from strikes.

He told Sky News: 'What we will do in the future is we'll make sure we've put in some additional protections in place for the travelling public, for example through minimal service levels.

'That would mean on a day like today a certain level of service would still have to be run and through changes to allow for transferable workers, that's a much quicker change we could take.

'For future strikes, both in this current but also for other strikes, we are going to ensure that the law is firmly on the passengers side. One of the ways is through transferable skills, or agency workers, as you call it.

'And there are a number of other technical changes we can make to union laws to make sure the public is always protected.'

He said law changes would be required through primary and secondary legislation.

Mr Shapps said the industrial action on the railways is 'taking us back to the bad old days of union strikes' as he vowed to 'push on with these reforms anyway'.

He told Sky News: 'I hear the unions say it's about pay, it's about job cuts, in fact there's a pay offer on the table and the job cuts are by and large voluntary.

'So it's unnecessary, it's taking us back to the bad old days of union strikes and they've walked away now from the negotiations saying they're going to strike and calling off any chance of a resolution.

'We're going to have to push on with these reforms anyway.'

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch accused Grant Shapps of 'spouting nonsense' with plans to allow agency staff to replace striking workers.

He told the PA news agency: 'Well, I don't know how bringing in untrained, non-safety critical, inexperienced workers into a dangerous environment like the railway with high-speed trains, there are high voltage distribution systems, are there are rules and regulations that have the power of statute, how that will help anyone, whether they are a passenger or a worker or manager or whatever.

'I don't see how the use, the deployment, of students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency will help anyone to resolve this situation so as usual he's just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn't help to resolve the situations which re in front of us.'

Several Labour MPs have joined RMT pickets to show their support for rail workers taking strike action on Tuesday morning.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had the whip removed in 2020, and several of his close supporters have shared messages of solidarity with rail workers taking part in the strikes.

'Solidarity with @RMTunion railway workers striking up and down the country this week,' Mr Corbyn tweeted.

'We cannot let the profits of the rich continue to grow at the expense of workers' jobs, wages, conditions, pensions and safety.'

Coventry South Labour MP Zarah Sultana shared a picture of herself at a picket in London, tweeting: 'Great to join striking @RMTunion members at Victoria Station this morning alongside Socialist Campaign Group comrades.'

Richard Burgon, a former shadow cabinet member under Mr Corbyn, tweeted: 'We can't just keep accepting workers' wages and conditions being driven down so that the profits of the rich are driven up.'

North of Tyne Labour Mayor Jamie Driscoll joined the picket of around 25 people outside Newcastle Central station.

He told the PA news agency: 'What I want to see is Britain be a high-wage economy with good public services, which is exactly what the RMT is fighting for.

'When it gets to the point where people are giving up their pay to fight for industry, something's already gone wrong.

'I sit on the Rail North committee and on Transport for the North and we have been warning ministers for two years that the system is creaking - they should have acted.

'If you want Britain to be a modern, high-wage economy with world-leading services, you've got to fund it.

'The fact that the Government hasn't come to the table despite the fact this has been brewing for years is the problem.'

Ian Lavery, the MP for Wansbeck and former chair of the Labour Party, joined a picket in Morpeth, tweeting: 'Solidarity with the @RMTunion today and all days.'

Beth Winter, the Labour MP for Cynon Valley, tweeted: 'Complete solidarity with striking @RMTunion members today.

'The Trades Unions are the organised working class... the workers united will never be defeated.'

Tahir Ali, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green, said he would be joining pickets later on Tuesday and posted: 'Solidarity to all those who are out taking action to protect jobs, ensure safety, and win better pay and conditions.'

At Birmingham New Street station, a few would-be passengers and commuters were trying to work out their travel plans, gazing at timetables on their phones and the destination on the main concourse.

Carol Hutchinson, who is on her way back to the Lake District after coming off a six-hour flight from Egypt, arrived back in the UK to find her direct train from Birmingham International station cancelled.

Having made her way to New Street, she was waiting to board, with her luggage, what appeared to be one of the few trains still running.

'I think it's going to be standing room only... I'm not even sure I'll get on with my suitcase,' she said.

Gordon Martin, RMT regional organiser for Scotland, said the strike is the last resort for members and said they were looking for a 'meaningful offer' to resolve the dispute.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'This is not the first option, this is the last resort for our members.'

Mr Martin added: 'It's a fight that we didn't want, this is a defensive action by this trade union but it will be 'til we get a reasonable settlement and the members have made that abundantly clear to me and others.

'This is a defensive measure by our members in defence of their jobs, their terms and conditions and, I would argue, the safety of the rail industry.'

Manchester Piccadilly was also largely deserted this morning.

Its platforms were empty and there were more cleaners and station staff.

Andy and Hannah Walton, a couple in their 40s, told MailOnline: 'The strike has really impacted our holiday - we're flying from Manchester to Prague.

'We're flying today but had to take extra measures to make sure we get our flights.

'We had to come up from Stoke last night and stay in a hotel as we weren't sure if the direct train to the airport would be running - and it's not.

'This has cost us a lot more money which is not what we need when we're going away.'

Colleen Smith, 54, a customer services worker, said: 'I don't often rely on the trains for my commute to work or rarely in the week, but I support the workers.

'There's good and bad sides to the situation. You see train staff tolerate so much. You can always see they are understaffed and they need more jobs and a raise of pay.

'The other side is people are unable to get to work themselves which is frustrating. It's affecting too many people so I believe it will be sorted soon.'

John Jeffery, 32, a retail worker, said: 'I'm actually on my way home from work and I've had to wait an extra half hour for my train. I'm lucky compared to others who just had their journey cancelled.

'I've had to cancel my shift tonight which means I've lost a day's pay which is very frustrating.

'I can sympathise with the workers because everyone at the moment needs a pay rise and working conditions should always be satisfactory.

'They've known these strikes were coming and there are no running replacement services on the buses - I had to find this out over an announcement in the station.

'This just makes me feel like they don't care about the rest of us trying to get to work.'

Cassie Bywater, 28, a content writer, said: 'I've got to the station only to see my train isn't coming so I've had to book an Uber which is going to cost me a lot of money.

'I was aware the strikes were happening, but the information provided said a 'limited service'. But there are no live train times for where i need to go - which is the office.

'It's frustrating as if I knew this I could have travelled straight from my house to the office in a taxi - and I do rely on train services a lot of the time.

'I think this will be sorted fairly quickly as a lot of lives are affected. Sometimes the power of protest is the only way your voice can be heard, and I hope that this is sorted soon'.

Glasgow Queen Street station was very quiet on Tuesday morning with just a handful of passengers waiting for trains.

Two trains an hour are running between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh.

Glasgow Central Station was also largely empty with just a few passengers waiting.

One train an hour is running between there and the Scottish capital.

Scott Dallas, 28, from Kirkintilloch, said getting to Glasgow Queen Street wasn't too difficult but he will have to leave early later in the day.

He told the PA news agency: 'I usually get the train from Lenzie but I went to Croy today so it was not too bad.

'The problem is tonight I will have to leave early because the last train I think is 6pm so I'll just have to make sure I'm out on time because I'm going to a conference today at Glasgow University.

'It is a bit of a pain but it could be worse.

'If I didn't have to come to this conference today I probably would've stayed at home and worked at home.'

Clapham Junction station in southwest London has been left eerily empty after rush hour.

Platforms at what is usually one of the busiest commuter hubs in the UK were quiet by 9:30 as a small number of travellers boarded the limited number of services.

Only trains on branches to Windsor or Southampton are running from Clapham Junction and at reduced times.

A handful of trains to stations like Dalston Junction and Stratford were cancelled while some trains to stations like Brighton were delayed.

Two commuters could be heard angrily talking on their phones about the 'f****** rail strikes' as they waited for buses outside the station.

London Waterloo and Victoria train station were deserted this morning and the shutters were down at major London Underground stations as Britons face a summer of discontent.

By 9am, the normally busy London Bridge Underground station was deserted.

The entrances were closed off by metal fences, and boards inside told anyone who had arrived that the station was shut due to the industrial action.

Behind the barriers, the concourse and ticket area, which would normally be teeming during the morning rush-hour, was empty.

A message running across a ticker board stated 'This station is closed owing to strike', and station staff could be seen telling travellers where they might be able to take a different route and how to pay with their cards.

Electrical engineer Harry Charles said his normal 10-minute journey to work by train to London Bridge took him 90 minutes.

The 30-year-old, from Lewisham, south-east London, said: 'Obviously I had to wake up early and left my house at 6am.

'I am with the employees who are striking because their money is not going up and the cost of everything is rising.

'The strike has caused a lot of hassle for people but everyone wants be able to eat and be able to afford to put in a good day's work.'

The father of three added: 'I had to go in as I work in a hospital.

'I travelled by bus and it was full. I had to let three or four buses go.

'One thing is - just imagine what it would be like getting through this if the weather was bad.'

Network Rail (NR) has asked the biggest rail workers' union to attend formal consultation talks next month on introducing 'modern working practices'.

A letter was handed to Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), at the end of talks on Monday evening.

Meetings were held throughout the day but failed to avert three days of strikes by RMT members which crippled train services on Tuesday and will be repeated on Thursday and Saturday.

The letter, written by Paul Rutter of NR, says: 'We have always made clear to you that we needed to make material progress in these discussions and that we needed to implement meaningful changes to working practices by April 2023.

'I am still hopeful that we can agree a way forward. We cannot, however, delay any longer and with that in mind we intend to consult formally with you on the implementation of changes to a number of working practices which we believe can be changed within the existing agreements and T&Cs (terms and conditions) under which our Maintenance and Works Delivery staff are employed.

'We will also press ahead with consultation on the implementation of certain technologies in order to make the railway a safer and more efficient workplace.

'Whilst we do not believe that we need the agreement from our trade unions to make these changes, we would much prefer to implement them with your agreement and co-operation.'

NR official Tim Shoveller said: 'Last night Network Rail passed a letter to the RMT asking them to attend the start of formal consultation talks on July 1 on the introduction of modern working practices in our maintenance organisation.

'The changes will mean dumping outdated working practices and introducing new technology, both of which will lead to a more effective and safer maintenance organisation.

'We expect this will reduce roles by around 1,800, the vast majority of which will be lost through voluntary severance and natural wastage.

'With retraining and redeployment also available to us, we anticipate there will be a job for everyone that wants one.

'These changes are vital for to put our railway on a firm financial footing for the future and will help us to save £100 million, while potentially giving us the flexibility needed to solve this industrial dispute.'

In Manchester a trickle of travellers entered and left a largely deserted Piccadilly train station, along with some confused and bewildered tourists, as RMT pickets manned the entrances.

The station, which handled more than 130,000 visitors last weekend, was running just 20% of normal weekday services.

Trains were running on some main lines, to Liverpool, York and Newcastle, but local routes were stopped.

Phil James, route director for Network Rail in the North West, said: 'So some of the more local commuter lines are seeing very little in terms of train services today.

'So it's not great for passengers, we recognise that and we have been advising passengers to check before they travel and clearly you can see some people have heeded our advice.'

An RMT source admitted that strikes were failing to have a major impact at Britain's third-busiest station as a number of lines kept running.

At Liverpool Street, commuters flooded off Overground trains from Chingford and Enfield Town approximately every half an hour, most of them heading to the Central and Elizabeth lines.

The union source said: 'I think it's been more minor inconvenience than straight direct impact.'

A Pret a Manger, a Pure, and the International Cheese shop all remained closed, while The Savanna, a grocer's, left a notice apologising to customers for keeping its shutters up.

MJ Shannon had to take a £30 Uber taxi, instead of a local train service, from Hale, Cheshire, where she was at a training event, to get to Manchester Piccadilly before a train home to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Ms Shannon, a bar manager, said: 'I'm trying to get back to Newcastle. It's not the worst inconvenience in the world, all the major lines are still running.

'Hopefully my train home will be in 45 minutes. We will see what happens.'

Amber Zito, 24, a canine hydrotherapist from Holme Firth, West Yorkshire, had just missed her train back to Huddersfield at Piccadilly train station in Manchester after vising her boyfriend in the city.

Ms Zito was waiting for the next train in an hour's time.

She said: 'They are usually more frequent. It is not great is it?

'Everything is kind of going tits up at the moment, planes, trains, everything. Nothing seems to be running properly at the moment.

'I blame the Government for the strike. I don't blame the people who work for train companies at all.

'They are only trying to do what everyone wants for their job. But it's frustrating when you want to get somewhere.'

Paris Herne, 43, lives in Edinburgh but came to Glasgow for work and said his journey to Queen Street was not much affected by the strike, though some of his colleagues are working from home.

He said: 'The central line is fine, I don't use any of the district lines at all.

'I had to wait an extra 15 minutes but that is all.

'I came from Edinburgh and there are two trains an hour so it's fine.

'But lots of my colleagues live on district lines so they are getting cabs or working from home.'

Clinical nurse manager Priya Govender said she has 'already had a horrible day and it has only just started'.

The 37-year-old had stayed at a hotel in Liverpool Street, central London, after working at her office on Monday, hoping that an early start would enable her to get home to South Coulsdon.

Her day started at 6.15am and she does not think she will arrive until after 10am.

Still trying to figure out what route to take from London Bridge, she said: 'I did not think it would be this bad. Some trains are running but a lot have been cancelled.

'I definitely will not be able to get a bus because they are packed. I will have to get an Uber.

'I still have to start work at 9am but at least I can work from home and have some flexibility.

'My day has been horrible. It is going to be a long day and I still have a full day's work to do. After this, I will just work from home on a strike day.'

Ms Govender, who works for a private healthcare group, said she is 'with' the strikers, adding: 'I know what people are feeling in today's world and it is hard, even though travelling is really not great for me now.'

Just before rush-hour, a huge influx of commuters suddenly swarmed Paddington station in London as they departed from trains in an apparent attempt to beat the crowds.

Several travellers appeared to try to avoid tapping out and left through separate barriers in order to jump the queue.

Within minutes of the rush the station was largely deserted, with fewer than a dozen travellers waiting on the platforms.

A usually busy London Euston Station was almost deserted on Tuesday morning, with just a tiny fraction of the usual crowds of commuters present.

Little more than two dozen people waited for a reduced number of trains during what would normally be rush hour.

Jack Pook, from Winchester, described the strikes as 'very stressful' as he waited to board a train home at Clapham Junction in south-west London after spending the night in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Mr Pook, a family support officer, said he had travelled up to London for work on Monday morning and was waiting on Platform 9 for his train home in the evening when he collapsed.

'I suddenly very instantly started feeling very unwell. I went completely pale, profuse sweating,' the 54-year-old told the PA news agency, adding that people must have thought he was drunk. 'It was very humiliating.'

He said the train staff were 'lovely with me' and called the paramedics, who treated him for about an hour before taking him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a 'one-off virus'.

Mr Pook was still wearing hospital pyjamas when he returned to the station on Tuesday morning.

Having planned to travel home on Monday, he said he had been 'very stressed' about the strikes when he woke up in hospital.

'I didn't know if they were still on until this morning - I asked someone at a bus stop at about 7 this morning,' he said.

Mr Pook said he was lucky there was a train to Westminster from Clapham Junction at about 8.30am and that staff had let him use his ticket from Monday.

He said the experience has been 'humiliating, stressful and caused worry, but strangers this morning have been really kind to me'.

He also said he had left his dog, Bardy, in day care, adding: 'I just want to get back to him. He's never been separated from me for this long.'

Nick King, a spokesman for Network Rail in Scotland, said a modernised railway could improve its pay offer for staff by passing on savings.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'We do feel that, with a bit of compromise, we could get this dispute resolved, and we could get trains back on the move.'

He said the strike could be resolved if the union moved its position on working practices and any reduction in staff would take place on a voluntary basis.

Mr King said: 'The dispute is not going to be solved through strike action. It's not going to be solved on a picket line.

'It's going to be solved by negotiations in a room, and negotiations have been taking place for 18 months now on this issue.

Amanda Testa, RMT branch secretary in Bristol, dismissed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to change the rules to allow agency staff to work while rail employees are on strike as 'a gimmick'.

She told the PA news agency: 'There aren't any agency staff - we have seen that in other industries.'

She added that it is almost impossible to find agency staff to help, even when there are no strikes.

Luc Johnston, a project manager for a charity, said he supports the strikes despite the disruption he faced as he waited for a train back to London at Liverpool Lime Street.

The 30-year-old said: 'I was in Belfast yesterday for a work trip.

'I knew there was going to be disruption but I had to travel for work and thought I'd chance it anyway.

'I think the strike is the right thing to do even if it causes me a bit of hassle.'

Brazilian tourist Evelin Minowa, 35, was due to travel to London from Liverpool for a concert on Tuesday evening.

She said: 'I knew about the strikes but there were meant to be trains running every hour to London.

'When I got here the first train was cancelled so I'm waiting to see if the next one arrives.

'It is annoying for people but I think if workers are striking there is a reason for it.'

At Liverpool Lime Street station, couple Sheila and Steve, who did not want to give their last name, were due to travel to London for a theatre trip.

Steve said: 'It's been planned for months and it's to celebrate a retirement and a 65th birthday.

'We're due to go to the theatre to see Pretty Woman tonight and the Savoy Grill tomorrow. It cost £500.

'The 8.47am train has been cancelled and we're just keeping our fingers crossed for the next one at 9.47am.

'I think they have got the right to strike but this seems a bit unfair on other people.'

Window cleaner Anthony Noble was soaping down the glass panels on The Railway pub opposite the main picket line at Birmingham New Street station.

The 46-year-old is fully supportive of the industrial action, saying 'fair play to them'.

'At the end of the day they do a good service. They should be on strike,' he added.

He said talk of a conditional below-inflation pay offer, or proposed rule changes to allow rail operators to hire agency staff, is 'desperate'.

'What are they going to do, replace them?'

He added. 'I hope they get what they're asking for.'

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson said the RMT is 'militant' and needs to get back around the negotiating table.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme he thinks a strike is a 'first resort for the RMT'.

'What the RMT has to do is stop being so militant, and get back around the table and get the country moving again,' he said.

Mr Simpson was asked why he called for Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth to get involved in the dispute between Aslef and ScotRail, but not her UK counterpart, Grant Shapps.

He said: 'It's different because it's not just Network Rail.

'As I said earlier, there are 13 train companies involved. So it's very, very complicated.'

He continued: 'I don't think that Grant Shapps going in would achieve anything right now.'

'We feel that there are clear ways in which we could modernise and change the way we currently operate and that would then enable us to free up savings that we could then use to fund a pay rise.'

A team of cleaners at Birmingham New Street station, who are employed by a third party and have not gone

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