London Midland trains cancelled

Thousands of rail passengers are facing disruption after a train firm has cancelled all but one of its Sunday routes because of a lack of drivers. London Midland is under fire after revealing that its drivers usually work on a voluntary basis on Sundays, but this week insufficient numbers have put themselves forward for the shift. It means that trains on almost all of its routes are not running due to a "staff shortage", leaving thousands of passengers stranded or delayed. Conservative MP Mark Pritchard has asked the Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, to investigate the disruptions: "Hundreds of Midlands people use their trains for business and leisure. London Midland need to pay their staff a fair wage to work anti-social hours, and get the trains moving again," he said. The Birmingham-based company, which operates more than 1,200 services a day to 149 stations, said all trains will be cancelled except those on the Birmingham to Liverpool line. The Rail Maritime and Transport Union said workers were not taking organised action, but called on the firm to address staffing problems "as a matter of urgency". General Secretary Bob Crow said it was simply a case of staff exercising their contractual right not to work on Sunday. He added: "Many of our members will be working as rostered and if the company has staffing problems it should sit down with us as a matter of urgency to resolve them."

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ITN | September 6, 2009

Tags:. .insufficient. .matter. .organised. .voluntary. .rostered