Further Hull Trains rail strike over sacked driver dispute
Train services to and from Hull on Friday have been been disrupted because of a strike by drivers in a long-running dispute over the sacking of a colleague.Members of Aslef at Hull Trains have walked out again, leading to several services being cancelled, including between Hull and London Kings Cross.The union has claimed a driver was unfairly sacked for raising a safety concern, which the company denied.A Hull Trains spokesperson said the firm was "sorry for the short-notice disruption to Hull Trains services".
"While the majority of our services will continue to run, a number have been cancelled," the spokesperson added."This follows a pattern of suspended strike notices from the union, with no suspension notice issued on this occasion."Customers with affected tickets can use alternative Hull Trains services or buy tickets with other operators and claim a refund via our customer service team."
'Moral issue'
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said that Hull Trains had "behaved deplorably"."The company's failure to act responsibly has enormous implications not just for rail workers and passengers at Hull Trains but for staff and passengers right across the wider rail network," he said."This is a moral issue because we have a culture on the railway designed to keep everyone safe."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.
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A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'Our priority will always be to ensure the safety of the public and to reduce any risk posed by the SS Richard Montgomery. 'The condition of the wreck remains stable, and experts are continuing to monitor the site. As part of their ongoing monitoring, they have updated advice on how authorities can further minimise risk and recommended that pilots and operators do not fly in a limited area around and above the site as specified by the Civil Aviation Authority.' All of which would seem to suggest Captain Bain will be sailing passengers around the SS Richard Montgomery for some time yet. 'I haven't seen decay,' he says. 'It managed to last all winter and the chances are, if anything is going to happen, it will happen in a gale force wind, in bad weather.' But, after passing them hundreds of times since Jetstream Tours started a decade ago, he has noticed that the masts are moving, 'they are rocking backwards and forwards'. And on occasion he has been asked to intervene when other vessels have gone too close. He adds: 'I've seen sailing boats in there, passing between the buoys. People just don't really know. And we sometimes do get tasked by the Port Authority to see if we can get names of a particular vessel. 'We don't like grassing people up, but at the same time it's there for security. Nine out of 10 times they just don't know.' So for now, the SS Montgomery remains something of a mawkish tourist attraction. And unless it does actually blow to smithereens, Professor Alexander can't see that changing any time soon. 'I got all the files about the SS Montgomery from the National Archives,' he says. 'And do you know what that told me more than anything? A typical British government meeting presided over by the Prime Minister will be 20 minutes of telling people about a subject they don't know anything about, 20 minutes of prevaricating, and 20 minutes to decide not to do anything.' And on that bombshell… the next trip to the SS Montgomery leaves on Tuesday.
