BRITS are braced for Bank Holiday Monday travel chaos as a week of crippling rail strikes begins along with millions hitting the road.

Around 16million drivers were expected to hit the road this weekend as families flocked to getaways.

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But a week of disruption ahead will see some parts of the country having no trains on days of industrial action.

Members of the train drivers’ union Aslef at 16 operators will launch a six-day ban on overtime on Monday.

The travel misery will involve three, one-day strikes across different operators between May 7 and 9, as part of a long running dispute over pay.

Passengers are being urged to check before they travel, with services that do run on strike days starting later and finishing earlier than usual.

No talks have been held between the union and train operators for more than a year amid a long-running dispute over pay.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators, wrote to Aslef last week suggesting informal talks which could result in more formal negotiations.

A spokesman for the RDG said: “The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.

“We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.

“It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £54 million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.”

Aslef said its members have not had a pay rise for five years and has accused the Government of “giving up” trying to resolve the dispute.

Train drivers will strike on the following days on Tuesday on routes covered by c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR’s Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern including Gatwick Express, Southeastern and South Western Railway.

The following day there are set to be walkouts on Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, GWR and West Midlands Trains services.

And Thursday will see strikes affecting LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.

Meanwhile, engineers on the Croydon Tramlink will strike from 8pm on Sunday to 6am on Thursday in a separate pay dispute.

Unite said its members are paid up to £10,000 a year less than similarly qualified workers on London Underground.

This morning Network Rail warned there would be no trains until later today between Colne and Blackpool North.

The transport giant also said trains between Lydney and Gloucester could be delayed or cancelled.

The RAC said Bank Holiday Monday’s train drivers overtime ban – set to see hundreds of services cancelled – will force more people into their cars.

RAC’s Rod Dennis said: “People are concerned about rail strikes, so some of those rail journeys planned for Monday will end up on the road instead.”

Meanwhile 487 rail engineering schemes costing £75million will also see major disruption.

The west coast mainline – the busiest route in Britain – will have no trains from London or Glasgow on Sunday, with services slashed on Saturday and Monday.

Other works will hit journeys near Liverpool, Crewe, Wigan, Coventry, Cambridge and Southampton.

Network Rail‘s Anit Chandarana said: “We know people want to travel by train and not by replacement bus.

“We do our best to fit as much work as we can into these closures to minimise the impact on passengers and freight customers.”

10,000 trains and two million passengers’ journeys are set to be cancelled by ASLEF train drivers’ strikes at 16 operators on May 7, 8 and 9, analysis of rail industry figures indicates.

And an overtime ban, which sees services axed at the last minute, runs from Bank Holiday Monday on May 6 until May 11.

Network Rail said: “Some operators will not run any services on strike days, and the overtime ban may lead to short-notice cancellations.”

Heathrow passengers face passport control delays in the run-up to the holiday weekend as 300 Border Force staff strike from Monday to Thursday.

Flight delays

Weather conditions are likely to impact other travel, after millions of motorists were thought to have hit the roads on Friday.

Heathrow said: “Longer queue times may be experienced.”

Ferry passengers are set for 60-minute queues at Dover as up to 15,000 cars sail to France over the extended weekend.

It comes after Ryanair was forced to cancel hundreds of flights due to French Air Traffic Control (ATC) strikes.

The budget airline’s CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement that the EU Commission needs to protect routes flying over France while such walkouts are taking place.

When it came to the weather, the Met Office warned a “mixed picture” was on its way.

Some parts will see plenty of sun while others will be overcast, although temperatures will be warmer than average when it pokes through the cloud.

The Met Office said highs of 20C are expected compared to the 17C average for this time of year, but where cloud persists 14C to 15C is more likely.

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