Strikes and bad weather mean that passengers face more travel misery

Brits could face more travel misery after weather warnings coinciding with a train drivers’ strike could cause chaos.

Heavy rain combined with the strikes caused delays for travelers today, while wet weather is expected to continue tomorrow.

The Met Office issued amber weather warnings for southern England and south Wales over the weekend.

Parts of Scotland were under a yellow weather warning today.

It said downpours are likely to cause flooding on roads and increase travel times, with the possibility of flooding homes and businesses.

Four flood warnings and 56 flood warnings were issued in England.

Saturday’s weather warnings coincided with the strike by Aslef union train drivers in a long-running wage dispute that has affected 11 operators.

Companies expected to have no services included Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Chiltern and East Midlands, while others including Great Western and Greater Anglia say services will be extremely limited.

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However, the strikes were not due to the impact of Sunday’s rides.

Passengers have been urged to plan ahead and check the full weekend ahead of travel.

Trains started later this morning and finished much earlier than usual, with trains normally running between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We don’t want to be in that position but nobody is listening to us.

“Our members have not received a raise during the pandemic and we are being told that rail companies cannot afford a raise of more than 2%.”

The intermittent heavy rain is expected to hit parts of south Wales and south-west England between 2pm Saturday and 3am Sunday.

In Wales, areas that could be affected include Cardiff, Swansea and Carmarthen; while in England Plymouth, Southampton and St Austell could be affected.

The Met Office said: “Rain is expected to develop in south Wales and south west England on Saturday afternoon, slowly moving east to clear most areas by early Sunday morning.

“Although the most consistent rain is expected over hills, periods of heavy rain are expected almost everywhere.

“15 to 25mm is expected fairly generally, with 40 to 60mm of rain seen in some locations, particularly over hills in South Wales and South West England.”

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