Thousands face travel chaos across Britain due to strikes

Thousands of people face Boxing Day travel chaos across Britain as a rail strike means no services will be running, Report informs referring to The Guardian.

Many have been forced to cancel or make alternative plans as the industrial action continues.

Usually hundreds of departures run on December 26 after the Christmas Day shutdown.

However, Network Rail said Britain’s railways were closed for a second consecutive day because of a strike by employees who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).

The strike is part of a long-running dispute between the RMT, and the train operators and Network Rail over pay, jobs and conditions.

Thousands of members of the RMT union at Network Rail went on strike over the festive period from 6 pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27.

Disruption was also expected for people traveling to and from airports with no services running on the Stansted Express on Boxing Day.

Planned upgrade work on the Heathrow Express means there are no services on Boxing Day, forcing airline passengers to find other ways of getting to and from Britain’s airports.

Rail schedules beyond Boxing Day were expected to experience disruption with trains starting later on December 27 owing to the industrial action.

The lack of trains has meant more people are expected to travel by road, with coach operators National Express and Megabus reporting heavy demand.

The AA expected 15.2 million cars to take to the UK roads on Boxing Day as people ventured out for the sales and attended football matches.

A resolution to the rail dispute appears a long way off with the RMT accusing the government ministers of going “missing” after the latest round of talks.