The UK's next rail strikes look set to cause disruption to the London Marathon. The Aslef union has announced train drivers at 12 operators will walk out in a dispute over pay on October 1 and again on October 5.
The first strike is just one day before the London Marathon, when tens of thousands of runners - many raising money for good causes - are to descend on the capital. The services to be affected were listed as:
• Avanti West Coast
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• Greater Anglia
• Great Western Railway
• Hull Trains
• LNER
• London Overground
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains
Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: "We would much rather not be in this position. We don't want to go on strike - withdrawing your labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union - but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.
"They are telling train drivers to take a real-terms pay cut. With inflation now running at 12.3% - and set, it is said, to go higher - these companies are saying that drivers should be prepared to work just as hard, for just as long, but for considerably less.
"The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real-terms pay cut for a third year in a row."
