Major rail disruption as 2,000 staff strike

Rail passengers faced major disruption after staff at ScotRail walked out on strike in a dispute over pay yesterday, with only an extremely limited service running.

More than 2,000 ScotRail employees took part in the action, including conductors, ticket examiners, station staff, engineering depot staff and CCTV operators.

As a result, the publicly owned rail operator was forced to cancel the majority of its services, with trains operating on just three routes across the Central Belt.

Among those caught up in the disruption were rugby fans travelling to Murrayfield to see Scotland take on Australia in the Autumn Nations series.

ScotRail warned that there would be a very limited service to the match, with no ScotRail services leaving after full-time and urged fans “please consider alternative travel options”.

Leaders of the RMT trade union have insisted they will strike for as long as it takes to get what they regard as a fair pay deal. But Mick Hogg, the union’s Scotland organiser, said on Friday an improved pay offer – understood to be around 7.5% – was not enough.

He claimed: “We want more because the retail price index is 12.6%, so the offer that is on the table comes nowhere near acceptable to RMT members.”

David Simpson, ScotRail’s delivery director said the RMT’s demands were “unaffordable”.