A furious row has broken out between gay rights campaigners, a train company and a rail union over industrial action that will prevent thousands of people attending one of the UK’s biggest Pride parades.
GoVia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has decided to cancel all Southern and Thameslink trains to and from Brighton on Saturday next week (August 5) because of the impact of a national overtime ban by drivers belonging to Aslef in a long-running pay battle.
The Brighton & Hove Pride parade is being held that day – the 50th anniversary of the first Brighton Pride march – as well as a “Fabuloso” fundraiser in Preston Park and a “Pride village” event.
GTR says the overtime ban means it could only run far fewer trains than normal, making it “impossible to avoid severe overcrowding” and presenting a “considerable risk to passenger safety”.
As a result, Brighton station will be closed for the whole of next Saturday. Rail services along the coast to Brighton will also be cancelled.
Paul Kemp, managing director of Pride, said: “We are deeply disappointed GTR has announced no trains will run to Brighton on the Saturday of Pride weekend.”
A well-informed source told the Standard that Mr Kemp had written privately to Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan, pleading with him to reconsider the impact of the overtime ban on Pride. An Aslef spokesman strongly denied this. Brighton Pride declined to comment.
Mr Kemp said the decision to close Brighton station would come as a “huge shock” to Pride participants and Brighton businesses that normally benefit from the influx of thousands of revellers.
“Many Pride visitors have already booked and paid for Saturday night accommodation locally, they will now have to change plans or find an alternative way to get into the city,” he said. “It’s truly devastating news for everyone.
“We would like to be clear that we don’t agree with GTR’s decision, nor the reasons given for completely stopping train services and the potential of adverse knock-on effects.
“We also note that an overtime ban still allows for a reduced service to operate, which is very different from the strike days. So it is very sad to see GTR put a complete service shutdown in place rather than finding a working alternative.”
Trains will run as normal next Friday and on Sunday August 6.
GTR said Brighton Pride was the biggest event on its network. It said it had followed police safety advice. It said the overtime ban meant that 20,000 passengers could be stranded at Brighton station late on Saturday if it ran a partial service. “We can’t in good faith bring people into Brighton that cannot get home again, potentially leaving thousands of people stranded – safety must come first,” it said.
Chris Fowler, network operations director at GTR, said: “GTR has an extremely long-standing relationship with Pride and we are bitterly disappointed to make this unbelievably difficult decision.”
Trains next Saturday will instead terminate at Three Bridges, enabling connections with Gatwick Airport to be maintained.
Aslef said the fact that trains were running to Three Bridges showed there was no reason to cut off Brighton. It said the underlying problem was GTR’s failure to employ sufficient drivers to avoid the need to rely on overtime.
Mr Whelan said: “It is outrageous – and utterly ridiculous – to try to blame Aslef for problems which are entirely of this train company’s own making.
“GTR Thameslink has known the date of Brighton Pride… for a very long time. Yet they are only running trains to Three Bridges – just three-quarters of the way down the line – in a deliberate and malicious attempt to disrupt the LGBT+ day and then to blame Aslef for its own manifest failings. That, I think, is beneath contempt.”
