Thousands of rail passengers suffered fresh travel chaos on Saturday due to another strike on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union staged the walkout at 14 train operators across England in an escalating an long-running dispute over pay.
The strike follows action on Friday by train drivers in the Aslef union, which crippled services, with some parts of England having no trains all day.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the strikes were “cynically targeting” the final, taking place in Liverpool on Saturday night. However, the RMT said it was the last date allowed under employment laws.
Aslef’s general secretary Mick Whelan revealed there had been no meetings with the Government since early January despite continuing deadlock over the pay row.
Drivers were prepared to continue taking industrial action until they had a decent pay offer, he said. Aslef has described an offer of an eight wage rise over two years as “risible”.
