Latest RMT offer

The RMT offered a “proposal to break the deadlock” by way of a six-month trial of an “accessibility guarantee”, which would ensure disabled, elderly and vulnerable passengers would be guaranteed assistance from staff on all services, the union said.

The RMT said it would accept driver operation of the train door, and would accept the role of On Board Supervisor (Southern imposed both changes last January). But the union said the driver should only close the doors when cleared to do so by the OBS.

The offer proposed: “At each station the OBS will conduct an accessibility check by alighting the train, having isolated a local door at a control panel, and checking the length of the platform for passengers that need assistance. The OBS will re-board the train and indicate to the driver that the accessibility check is complete so that the driver may continue with the train dispatch process.”

The union has consistently argued that a second member of staff should be on every train, and that when a second person is unavailable, that train should not run.

A Southern spokesman responded: “The guarantee the RMT wants is a guarantee to cancel trains. We want to put the passenger first and keep trains running. Driver controlled operation is safe, and provision for those who need assistance has not deteriorated.”

The RMT says 2.75% of services (23 trains a day) that previously carried a conductor now run driver-only. According to the union, 12 such trains a day run driver-only due to service disruption, six due to no staff cover and five due to other reasons.

Southern said it did not recognise the figures, adding that 900 of its 2,200 daily services already operated driver-only before the dispute began. It had stated that 0.06% of services would typically operate this way.

The Association of British Commuters passenger group commented: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Southern Rail is shifting the goalposts still further on disabled access.”