Rail strikes will put patients’ health at risk, says Javid

Vital operations and exams face cancellation, as angry passengers accuse union of being ‘completely selfish’

RAIL strikes planned for next week will “put patients at risk”, the Health Secretary has warned, as operations and hospital appointments face cancellation.

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, told The Daily Telegraph that doctors, nurses and front-line staff would struggle to get to work, while patients complained that they would miss long-planned treatment. It came as Labour faced increasing pressure to condemn the strikes, which will cut off entire towns and cities from train services after Network Rail said half of all rail lines will be closed.

Boris Johnson accused Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, of maintaining a “sphinx-like silence” about the strikes and said Labour was “on the side” of the RMT union, which is leading the industrial action scheduled for June 21, 23 and 25. More than three quarters of all services are expected to be cancelled, affecting not only medical appointments but students sitting A-levels and GCSES on the strike days.

Schools are being urged not to cancel exams and teachers will be told to make contingency plans for pupils who arrive late for exams. They will still be able to sit their papers as long as they are supervised by a member of staff.

The Government is trying to recruit agency staff to cover some roles next week, so more trains can operate.

ENTIRE towns and cities will be cut off from the train network next week as strike action closes half of Britain’s rail lines.

Huge swathes of Britain will be without any rail services on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, when 40,000 RMT members go on strike in a dispute over pay and jobs. Network Rail confirmed yesterday that about 80 per cent of services would have to be scrapped.

Major transport hubs in Cornwall, Wales, Dorset, Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland will have no rail links.

Network Rail said the widespread industrial action will mean there will be no services to Penzance, Bournemouth, Swansea, Holyhead, Chester and Blackpool, as well as no trains running North from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Lines will only be open from 7.30am and journeys will have to be completed by 6.30pm, meaning services will start later and finish earlier than usual.

The last services from London to Scotland will leave in the early afternoon on the strike days: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

A full revised timetable for the week will be published on Friday. Mainlines will be prioritised for passenger services although last services will be leaving in mid-afternoon across the country.

A Telegraph analysis across 14 major UK cities shows that at an average of 381,726 passengers normally depart from 7pm onwards on weekdays – all journeys that will not be able to take place on strike days. That means a total of at least 1.1million evening journeys will be cancelled due to strikes.

However, the actual number is likely to be a lot higher.

The strikes are likely to cause disruption for hospitals and schools, with students due to sit GCSE exams in history, physics and combined science on strike days as well as A-level exams in German, maths, religious education, chemistry, geology, PE and Italian.

Louise Quick, from Newcastle, was due to travel to London next Tuesday with her nine-month-old son, Julian, for a scan at Great Ormond Street. Driving to London was not possible for the family, and Mrs Quick felt her only option was to reschedule the appointment for July. When she went to change the rail ticket she was charged a £54 alteration fee.

The rail strikes are disrupting a “vital service” for patients who need medical care, Mrs Quick said, “they don’t understand”. She said she is also having “sleepless nights” worrying the strikes may continue into July and Julian won’t be able to have his scans.

“I have spent the last nine months in this whirlwind of stress, and [there] was hopefully going to be some answers,” she said.

A cancer patient, who asked not to be named, said he might not be able to attend his chemotherapy treatment, scheduled for June 21 at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, because of the strikes.

“There are no trains running at all that day along that line, not even a bus replacement service,” he said.

“I’m just so annoyed about it. Compared to me [the train drivers] earn a fortune,” he said. “We’re in a cost of living crisis, we’re still getting over Covid, and I just think it’s completely selfish.”

Industry bosses have also warned that rail strikes will also leave airports full of stranded passengers who have been cut off from public transport.

After months of travel disruption following the return of international travel, airports are now grappling with the prospect that thousands of passengers will be landing in the country with limited options for getting home.

Heathrow Airport is planning to have more police on its forecourts and at key road junctions to deal with the influx of passengers on the roads.

Gatwick Airport said it was “concerned about those passengers arriving who may not be aware of the strikes.

“We are expecting considerable disruption. We can’t sugar-coat it.”

Both Heathrow and Gatwick Airport have been in conversations with coach companies about extra services but “didn’t have much success” because much of the spare capacity is being used to transport attendees of Glastonbury Festival, which begins on June 22.

There are fears that major events may have to be cancelled due to the strikes. Organisers of the Junction 2 music festival, which was due to be held at Trent Park in north London this weekend, were forced to cancel because of overnight strikes at TFL.

Enfield council said it would be impossible to safely disperse thousands of festival goers from the grounds.

The broader hospitality and events sector will also come under pressure as people are likely to avoid travelling into city centres.

The mayhem on rail routes will also mean many commuters will be forced to find alternative routes to work, threatening to increase congestion on the country road network.

Businesses have already started telling employees to work from home.

Operating companies are urging passengers to travel only if absolutely necessary as train services are being cut to just 4,500, less than a quarter of the normal 20,000 provided each day.

Although the action will be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the misery for commuters is expected to last the entire week because signallers and controllers will not work overnight on strike days.

As a result, the network will only offer 12,000 to 14,000 services on the non-strike days due to the knock-on effects of the action.

It is understood that freight will be prioritised over passengers to limit damage to the economy.

It came as campaigners accused ministers of antagonising the unions by threatening to tighten industrial action laws and employ agency workers to break strikes.

Norman Baker, a former transport minister and an adviser to the Campaign for Better Transport group, said the Government was waving “a red rag in front of a bull”.

“There are people in the government who are talking this up like it’s a new miners’ strike,” he said.

‘There are no trains running at all that day along that line, not even a bus replacement service. I’m so annoyed’

‘There are people in the government who are talking this up like it’s a new miners’ strike. It’s like a red rag to a bull’