ASLEF call strikes for April and May (Hull Trains)

[whole diary]

[infoman]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/17/train-drivers-strike-56-days-row-colleague-sacked/

[grahame]

Article  firewalled - teaser tells us

Aslef claims driver was unfairly sacked by Hull Trains managers after raising safety issue – a claim the company denies

[TaplowGreen]

Article  firewalled - teaser tells us

Aslef claims driver was unfairly sacked by Hull Trains managers after raising safety issue – a claim the company denies

Drivers at Hull Trains are set to strike for 56 days from the end of the month after one of their colleagues was sacked.

Members of the Aslef trade union will walk out from March 31 to May 24, threatening disruption to services on the East Coast Main Line. Hull Trains runs seven services a day from London King’s Cross station.

The union claimed a driver was unfairly sacked by Hull Trains managers after raising a safety issue at a meeting – a claim the company has denied.

Mick Whelan, the Aslef general secretary, claimed Hull Trains had behaved “deplorably”, saying: “The company’s failure to act responsibly has an impact – and enormous implications – not just for rail workers and passengers at the company but for staff and passengers right across the wider rail industry.

“Anyone who works on the railway should be able to report a safety concern without fearing they will be penalised, punished, or lose their livelihood. The company has behaved deplorably. This is a moral issue, because we have a culture on the railway designed to keep everyone safe.”

‘Concerns about workload’
It is understood the unnamed driver was dismissed last year.

Aslef said in January: “During a company briefing about fatigue, the driver shared concerns about workload – but, rather than being offered the support he needed and deserved, Hull Trains dismissed the driver.”

A union source claimed two managers jointly decided that it would be unsafe to let the driver continue operating its trains after the fatigue briefing took place.

Hull Trains’ driver salaries start from £72,223 per year, according to job advertisements reviewed by The Telegraph.

Previous threats of strikes and industrial action by Aslef over the driver’s sacking have failed to have a significant impact on the company’s operations.

Members of Aslef previously said they would walk out every Friday between March 7 and April 25 and every Saturday between March 8 and April 26. Hull Trains said there would be “minor timetable alterations” to its services from March 7 onwards.

Aslef has said it has “100 per cent membership” among Hull Trains drivers, suggesting that a significant number of its members are not walking out on strike as shop stewards had hoped.

Hull Trains was contacted for comment.

[ChrisB]

Can we yet again update the subject line as it is not descriptive enough to make clear that it is only Hull Trains that is affected?

[grahame]

Can we yet again update the subject line as it is not descriptive enough to make clear that it is only Hull Trains that is affected?

That is ... a part of the process of "moderation" on the Coffee Shop for all postings - keeping an eye out to make sure titles are good headlines, that links work, etc.    And, yes, I / we will do that, Chris.  But all of us, me (and perhaps you too on occasions, Chris) are not expert copyrighters.

So this is a task that the moderation teams asks members to help minimise, but at the same time happily undertakes to allow a continued flow of article we would otherwise have missed for the mutual benefit of everyone.

[grahame]

(Hull Trains) added to the end of the subject line - previous was

ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) call strikes for April and May