The rail network was crippled on Saturday as train workers for four different unions walked out over pay and working demands.
Mmembers of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), train drivers’ union ASLEF, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), and Unite (at Great Western Railway) joined forces to reduce normal service timetables to just 11 per cent across the country.
It is the first time this year that the all four unions have combined in what some of the worst rail disruption seen amid the cosy of living crisis.
The rail workers were join by other groups in the afternoon in what the RMT’s chief, Mick Lynch, called a “united working class”.
“We’ll stand together as one united working class,” he told a crowd of people who were waving banners and cheering.
Lines were closed for the day between London and several major cities such as Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich and Manchester.
“We don’t want to be on strikebut this dispute will continue until the Government lifts the shackles from the train companies,” said Mick Whelan head of ASLEF.
“The message I am receiving from my members is that they want more industrial action, so I think more strikes are inevitable.”
Mr Lynch said: “Despite our positive discussion, the Chancellor’s intervention has made an already difficult dispute harder to resolve.
“I am also concerned the Government has recently been taking action that is lining the pockets of the ‘railway rich’ whilst rail workers continue to endure pay freezes and real-terms pay cuts.”
At the same time as rail and energy protests, members of the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion (XR) gathered outside Euston station to march on Westminster.
Westminster Bridge was brought to a standstill for at least an hour when protesters blocked the road to chant, sing and beat drums emblazoned with the XR logo.
“The politicians have turned a deaf ear to petitions and protests and marches – they just don’t seem to care,” David Pearson, who helped organise the march, told PA.
Speaking in front of the Palace of Westminster, he added: “We’re trying to shame a government that has no shame, so there’s a fundamental flaw in our theory of change.”
By around 3.30pm, most marchers appeared to be responding to the police’s requests and had left the scene without being arrested.
By around 5pm, picket lines made up of rail union members had dispersed for the day.
Some disruption is expected to spill over to Sunday morning, ahead of the London Marathon.
Rail workers will strike again on October 5 and 8.
