Travel latest: 'Still a long way to go yet' in dispute, warns RMT leader as strike action causes more disruption

Fans attending Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics tour at Wembley Stadium on Saturday began their journeys to London as early as 2am on Friday morning due to the impact of the rail strike on the event.

Carol and Norman Wheeldon, 59, left home in Powys, Wales at 2am on Friday morning to ensure they made it to the concert.

The couple’s had booked a train to London on Friday but it was cancelled just over a week ago due to the strike, so they decided to travel almost 200 miles by car.

"We booked with Trainline and then a week ago we found out they weren’t running, so they gave us a full refund and we’ve had to travel down by car," Mrs Wheeldon said.

She added: "Actually it was very, very easy. Our children put in the codes for us on the car Satnav and it was brilliant. Took us exactly to the car park.”

The couple stayed in a central London hotel overnight before completing their journey by Tube.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said he stands in "solidarity" with the RMT and railway workers as he called on people to "follow your conscience".

He said: "All they're asking for is just protection against the cost-of-living crisis, they want to negotiate so that there are no compulsory redundancies and they're willing to adapt to changes in the rail industry they always have done but it's got to be done by agreement."

He added that their requests are "perfectly reasonable" and called on the government to "come to the table or allow the employers to come to a settlement". 

Speaking to the PA news agency at a rally, Mr McDonnell said: "I'm on picket line after picket line and so are many Labour MPs.

"Follow your conscience so therefore, for me, that means Labour MPs being on picket lines and it includes Keir Starmer as well coming off the fence, supporting working people because they're not asking for the world."

 The rail strikes are not just being supported by Labour politicians, NHS workers and the GMB union, a number of friendly pups have also joined picket lines to show their support. 

Social media users have been sharing pictures of their dogs taking part in rallies using the hashtag #dogsonpicketlines. 

You can take a look at a few of them below...

 As we told you in our previous post, a rally has been taking place outside King's Cross St Pancras in London. 

Among the demonstrators was Labour MP Diane Abbott. 

Speaking to the crowds, she criticised her party for not picking a side in the dispute. 

"I do not understand the argument that Labour should not be here because we are not meant to pick a side," Ms Aboott said. 

"I thought when you join Labour, you are picking a side, on the working-class side." 

She was joined by RMT president Alex Gordon, who welcomed workers from train stations around London. 

During his remarks, he called for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to go.

He said: "He is so hot he has run off to Rwanda."

Hospital workers and cleaners with the GMB general workers' union have joined a rally at King's Cross St Pancras in London to support the rail strikes.

They arrived shouting and holding signs saying: "#endoutsourcing."

RMT president Alex Gordon said through a microphone on the stage: "Welcome, victory to the cleaners."

The rail workers also cheered as the group arrived.

The hospital workers are calling for contractor company Mitie to be removed.

They chanted: "Mitie out," and "Mitie is a thief, Mitie is a liar".

A Twitter thread by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has hit out at "outdated" and "archaic" working practices still used by train operators. 

The government and Network Rail are keen to modernise the UK's railways, but unions argue this will be at the expense of jobs and safety. 

Mr Shapps said the railway network needs to "move with the times", listing off the working practices he said were "holding it back".

For example, he said Sunday working laws haven't been updated since 1919 so some train operators still have to rely on the goodwill of employees to work them. 

He also said maintenance teams are not allowed to cross geographical boundaries to carry out repairs. 

"It means a team based at Euston wouldn’t be able to walk 500 yards to Kings Cross to fix an urgent points failure," he said.

The majority of people believe rail workers have the right to strike when negotiations fail, according to a poll.

The survey of 2,000 people, carried out by Opinium on behalf of the RMT union, found fewer than one in five people supported cuts to staff on trains and stations.

Seven out of 10 said rail workers should have a pay rise that takes into account the cost of living, while 59% believe staff have the right to strike if talks fail.

Three out of five said the government should intervene to make sure rail companies tackle workers' concerns.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the poll showed there was "strong support" for the strikes and "massive public opposition to plans to cut thousands of track, train, and station jobs, and to the government's policy of allowing profiteering from the rail industry."

But National Rail accused the union of taking a "strike first, negotiate later" approach and said the RMT's lead negotiator had "spent more time on telly than at the table this week".

The Department for Transport said in response: "The unions know negotiations over pay and working practices don't happen with the government - they happen with the employers of the people they represent.

"In this case, that's Network Rail and the train operating companies, so even an hour spent talking to ministers would just be time they could be speaking to the people they really need to."

Despite the rail strikes today, notable services still seemed to be operating as usual at Paddington Station in west London this morning. 

Services including Elizabeth Line trains to Reading via Twyford and to Heathrow Terminal 4, and GWR services to Bristol Parkway were still running. 

All trains expected to arrive at Paddington Station until at least 10:54 were listed as being on time, or with five minutes or fewer delay.

More than 12 members of staff were seen at the station, while the usually bustling station had fewer than 100 members of the public sitting waiting for news of when to board services.

However, the picture is not the same across the country. Services are not running in many seaside resorts including Blackpool, Margate and Bournemouth.

Away from today's rail strikes, there has also been serious disruption for holidaymakers with hundreds of flights being cancelled by airlines.

However, budget carrier Ryanair has not been affected. In an interview with The Telegraph, chief executive Michael O'Leary explained why.

"Some of the other airlines – and it's a judgment call – didn’t see the recovery coming as early as we did," he told the paper.

"We started recruiting and training new pilots and cabin crew last November, so we began earlier than any other airline. The other thing we did very sensibly during COVID is that we didn't fire thousands of cabin crew or pilots or engineers."

He also said pilots and cabin crew were kept in the sky ahead of the expected recovery from the pandemic.

"If a pilot doesn't fly once a month, they lose their licence. You then have to put a pilot back into a simulator for three months to get his licence back," he said.

The airline boss also had some harsh words for Boris Johnson, who he described as "entirely untrustworthy".

Asked whether he had met the prime minister, he said: "No, and I've no desire to meet him. He's an idiot of the highest f****** order."