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Unions slam Avanti's ‘lies’ as rail firm cancels services and rips up timetables

PROFITEERING rail operator Avanti West Coast has descended into more chaos with services cancelled and timetables torn up — and bosses again blaming their incompetence on non-existent strike action by workers.

Today, rail unions RMT and Aslef called on Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to end the mayhem by ending Avanti’s franchise and taking services back under public control.

The demand came after Avanti suspended sales of its own tickets because it could not meet schedules after slashing driver numbers so deeply that there are not enough to operate scheduled service, the unions said. 

Cancellations include the reduction of services from London Euston to major centres including Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow to one an hour.

Before inventing its “unofficial strike action” excuse for its incompetence, Avanti told passengers waiting for cancelled trains: “This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time,” and informed unfortunate travellers that their reservations could not be transferred to the next available train.

That excuse was replaced a week ago with: “Due to unofficial strike action by train drivers, we are expecting multiple short-notice cancellations until further notice,” which was repeated on Monday as more cancellations were announced and ticket sales were temporarily suspended.

Both unions slammed the company’s lies about the causes of the continuing disruption — and called on the Secretary of State to intervene.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the chaos was caused by appallingly poor management, not industrial action.

He wrote to Grant Shapps: “Avanti are falsely and shamefully making allegations that this decision is due to unofficial industrial action when the reality is this decision arises from poor management, cutting staffing to the bare minimum and rock-bottom staff morale.”

He asked Mr Shapps how fast a so-called operator of last resort — public control and ownership — could be organised to take over Avanti’s franchise and asked for a meeting with him.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of drivers’ union Aslef, said: “The company should stop lying and start recruiting. Then it will be able to deliver the services it has promised passengers it will run. At the moment, the company is lying to passengers and lying to staff. It needs to do better.”

An Avanti spokesperson said: "From August 14, we will be introducing a reduced timetable. This is due to the current industrial relations climate which has resulted in severe staff shortages in some grades through increased sickness levels, as well as unofficial strike action by ASLEF members."

"The reduced timetable will be introduced to ensure a reliable service is delivered so our customers can travel with greater certainty.”

"We urge the rail unions to engage in meaningful industry reform talks around modernising working practices and developing a railway fit for the 21st century."

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