Transport strikes cost pubs and restaurants £530m

MARCH’S rail and Tube strikes will cost pubs and restaurants more than half a billion pounds in lost sales, hospitality bosses have warned.

Pubs, bars and restaurants – particularly those in London – expect a major drop-off in trade as industrial action takes place this week.

The impact of strikes today, Saturday and on March 30 and April 1, as well as knock-on disruption tomorrow and on March 31, will cost the industry as much as £530m, according to analysis by trade association UK Hospitality.

London venues are projected to lose £59m in a day as Tube drivers and station staff take action on March 15, it added.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: “This week’s rail and Tube strikes will heap further disruption on hospitality, particularly in central London, with the potential to cost the sector as much as £600m in lost sales.

“The disruption impacts are felt far and wide. Businesses lose crucial sales, workers are often unable to work and earn, and the public are forced to cancel plans with family and friends.”

The trade body estimates that the total cost of industrial action since pay disputes began last year will reach more than £3bn. Rail tickets provider Trainline said it would lose as much as £6m in revenue on every strike day.

It also warned growth for its most recent financial year would come in below expectations owing to industrial action.

Thousands of London Underground drivers in the Aslef union and Tube workers in the RMT union held strike action yesterday over pensions and

‘Businesses lose crucial sales, workers are unable to work and the public are forced to cancel plans’

working arrangements. The industrial action brought London’s Underground lines to a standstill on the same day Jeremy Hunt gave his Budget statement.

This will be followed by a string of walkouts by train workers from today, with 14 of the country’s rail operators preparing for strikes over March and April.

Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said: “I congratulate all our London Underground members who have taken part in this strike action today. It shows how determined we are to reach a negotiated settlement to this longrunning dispute.”