Families face cancelling festive plans, miss parties and cancel shopping trips ... trends now

Families have accused 'heartless' union barons of holding Christmas to ransom as their plans for the festive period all face being cancelled due to rail strikes.

Union firebrand Mick Lynch announced walkouts targeting passengers heading home for Christmas last night, acknowledging 'the travelling public will be disappointed, irritated and angry' but claimed his workers had 'no choice'. 

More than 40,000 rail workers will join the extra industrial action dates from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27. 

HAVE YOU CANCELLED YOUR CHRISTMAS/NYE PLANS BECAUSE OF THE STRIKES? Email [email protected]    

The militant RMT's latest bid to cripple Britain's railways has forced thousands of families to shelve holiday plans, parties and long-awaited days out at the 11th hour - despite this being the first 'normal' Christmas for millions since the Covid pandemic.

One elderly widower told MailOnline how a friend who was living abroad had offered to visit him to keep him company, but was forced to revoke that offer after the fresh wave of rail strikes were announced.

John Steed, 75, is a widower who had spent the last two Christmases on his own due to Covid problems. 

He told MailOnline how he was excited to finally spend the festive period with a friend, who lives abroad, who had planned to fly over to see him.

But, after the announcement of more RMT rail strikes over the Christmas period, Mr Steed will spend his third consecutive Christmas alone.

He told MailOnline: 'With no trains during that period over the holiday, it clashes with flight plans and their ability to reach me.

'Trade unionists are a heartless bunch. Thanks Mick Lynch.'

In a separate dispute, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union who maintain roads will walkout for 12 days over Christmas - potentially forcing others to choose not to travel altogether. 

The industrial action on Britain's highways will coincide with planned RMT strikes, inflicting maximum pain on those hoping to see friends and family this December.

Others flying home for the holidays have also seen their travel plans ruined. 

Paul Lawson was looking forward to heading back to the UK for a busy festive break and spending some as much time as possible with friends and family.

He was set to celebrate his daughter completing basic training at the Britannia Royal Navy College on December 14, and just days later they were also due to witness their grandchild's christening in Yorkshire. 

Having chosen to fly in from the United Arab Emirates, the Lawsons had spent hundreds of pounds on their return train journeys from Heathrow.

But the RMT's latest bid to cripple Christmas has now forced Mr Lawson, and thousands of other families, to change their festive plans at the 11th hour.

'Because of the strikes we've now had to desperately change flight times and organise road transfers at a cost greater than £700', he told MailOnline.

'What a sorry state of affairs. Makes you proud to be British - not!'

It comes as Britain's struggling pubs, restaurants and hotels are set to lose a 'catastrophic' £1.5billion in sales during the Christmas strikes, which business bosses fear will cripple the hospitality industry. 

Tim Shoveller, Network Rail's chief negotiator, accused to RMT of 'playing fast and loose with people's Christmas plans' after the new strike dates were announced.

Two 48-hour walkouts next week, on December 13-14 and 16-17 are also due to go ahead, along with two more on January 3-4 and 6-7.

However, the union cancelled an overtime ban from December 18 to January 2 which could have caused hundreds of last-minute cancellations. Several operators rely on overtime working to run a full timetable.

Mr Lynch insisted he does not want strikes to go ahead before Christmas but argued his members were being forced into action by the Government not allowing train operators a proper mandate to negotiate on pay and conditions.

The crippling of the rail network has also disrupted Clive Hadfield's plans, who would normally travel down from Norfolk with his wife to see their son over Christmas.

Despite driving in a low-emission vehicle, the couple were stung by the capital's newly imposed ULEZ charge last year and had to fork out £160.

To avoid any extra charges, Mr Hadfield said they decided to book train tickets instead for this year.

'But there's no chance of doing that,' he told MailOnline. 'The bullying rail unions have made rail travel unreliable.' 

Similar misery is in store for other families who have seen long-awaited plans shelved at the 11th hour. 

Nigel Goddard, who lives in Croydon, south London, won't be able to see his son, who lives in Newcastle or his six-month-old granddaughter over the holiday period.

He slammed the RMT's walkouts and said his Christmas plans, and had been 'ruined' as a result.

'We have three possible days that we can meet up for Christmas lunch but there are strikes on all three of the days,' he told the BBC. 

Despite sowing fresh chaos on Britain's railways, Mr Lynch doubled down on his decision to unleash fresh strikes as he spoke on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He said: 'My members are living on extremely low wages. Not everyone's earning the same money, but what everyone's experiencing is a lowering of their conditions. 

'Now we regret the inconvenience that we are are causing, but this inconveniencing is being caused by the Government... they've held back even these paltry offers till the last minute.

'We have to respond to what the companies are doing. If we do not respond, then those changes will go through without a response from us and our members will have to suffer the consequences of this, including job losses and changes to their working lives that are more unacceptable to them'.

But Government minister Nick Gibb argued the RMT's 'very disappointing decision' came after they were offered a 'very good pay deal' of 8% over two years.

'So I think the unions really should call off this strike. It's inconveniencing people up and down the country in the run up to Christmas, I think it's a very poor way of conducting negotiations,' he told GB News.

'We would urge the unions to talk to employers, to keep negotiating and not to hold the country to ransom, particularly in December as we get nearer to Christmas.'