Travel news – live: Christmas warning issued amid train, airport and National Highways strikes

Rail fares slated as ‘savage'

Labour hit out at the “savage” rail fares increase after the Department for Transport announced a rise of up to 5.9%.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “This savage fare hike will be a sick joke for millions reliant on crumbling services.

“People up and down this country are paying the price for 12 years of Tory failure.”

Jane Dalton22 December 2022 12:47

Prepare for disruption, says Border Force boss

Border Force chiefs have warned travellers to prepare for disruption.

Head of operations Steve Dann said there were “robust plans in place” to limit the impact of the strikes, but the “contingency workforce will not be able to operate with the same efficiency as our permanent workforce”.

He added the organisation cannot predict the extent of any delays to passengers, but “people should be prepared for disruption”.

Electronic passport gates will be open but they cannot be used by all passengers, such as children aged under 12.

PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka urged people to vent their anger at the government.

“The government could stop these strikes tomorrow if it puts more money on the table,” he said.

The worst disruption could be at Heathrow , the UK’s busiest airport, where 579 flights are due to land today.

Jane Dalton22 December 2022 12:41

Border Force walkout to delay air passengers

Around a quarter of a million passengers arriving at UK airports today are being warned to expect delays as Border Force strikes begin.

Around 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union employed by the Home Office to operate passport booths will walk out at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex.

The Border Force strikes will take place every day to the end of the year except Tuesday December 27.

Aviation data company Cirium said 1,290 flights were scheduled to land at affected airports today, with a total capacity of more than a quarter of a million passengers.

This is the busiest Christmas for airports since 2019, as it is the first festive period without coronavirus travel restrictions since the start of the pandemic.

There are fears that delays in checking the passports of arriving passengers could lead to long queues and even people being held on planes, disrupting later departures.

Military personnel and volunteers from the Civil Service have been trained to step in.

Jane Dalton22 December 2022 12:30

Rail fares set to rise by up to 5.9%

Regulated rail fares in England will increase by up to 5.9% from 5 March next year, the Department for Transport has announced.

Transport secretary Mark Harper said: “This is the biggest ever government intervention in rail fares. I’m capping the rise well below inflation to help reduce the impact on passengers.

“This is a fair balance between the passengers who use our trains and the taxpayers who help pay for them.”

Jane Dalton22 December 2022 12:21

What National Highways strikes mean for drivers

Just when roads are set to be busier with private cars, the staff who plan and maintain major roads, including key motorways, are walking out. Joe Sommerlad examines how drivers will be affected:

Jane Dalton22 December 2022 12:13

Government could ‘fast-track’ NHS pay rise in 2023 as more strikes loom

Rishi Sunak’s government could fast-track an NHS pay rise next year after 48 hours of historic strikes by nurses and paramedics, according to reports.

Health secretary Steve Barclay is said to be ready to offer an expedited pay deal in 2023 in a bid to prevent fresh industrial action next year.

A source close to Mr Barclay revealed he is keen to “speed up” the pay review process – set to begin in April – to give NHS staff a pay rise to break the deadlock.

Adam Forrest reports:

Emily Atkinson22 December 2022 11:45

Rail strikes about to begin in France

Semi-official strikes by train guards in France have wrecked the Christmas travel plans of an estimated 200,000 passengers on SNCF, the national operator.

Hundreds of guards working for SNCF will stop work over the next two weekends as part of a pay dispute. They have refused a deal offering a €600 (£522) bonus on top of a general 6 per cent pay rise at the rail organisation.

Their union, SUD Rail, has not officially sanctioned the strike, which has been coordinated on social media by a “national collective of guards” known as the CNA. But the union is helping with communications about the walk-out.

As in the UK, Friday is expected to be the busiest day of the winter as travellers head for their Christmas destinations. Many trains were fully booked ahead of the strike.

Two out of three TGVs (high-speed trains) are expected to run between Paris and the south of France, and from the capital to the Atlantic. About half of trains in the north of France will run, as well as 75 per cent of services between Paris and Strasbourg on the German border.

Christophe Fanichet, chief executive of SNCF, told the Franceinfo radio station that the Christmas and New Year strikes were “really unacceptable” – and that passengers with advance tickets whose trains were cancelled would get back twice the original cost of their journey.

He said the gesture would cost SNCF “several tens of millions of euros”.

Alternatively, passengers can change to any other day where seats are available and will not need to pay for any difference in fare.

Simon Calder22 December 2022 11:30

Christmas travel chaos: All the train and flight problems to navigate this week

The busiest week of the winter for travel has begun, with millions of people on the move between now and 25 December. But travellers face a wide range of disruption on the railways and in the skies, with strikes, staff shortage and weather combining to create a travel nightmare before Christmas.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has all you need to know as the race begins:

Emily Atkinson22 December 2022 11:15

National Highways strikes to spill out into New Year

The National Highways strikes in London begin today and are set to last until Christmas Day – but union leaders warn this is just the beginning.

Industrial action on Britain’s roads will commence again on 30 December, when PCS members across the traffic officer service in the West Midlands and southwest England begin action.

Walkouts are then set to hit the East Midlands and eastern England on 6 January.

PCS also say that all of its National Highways member working for the traffic officer service will take action on 3 and 4 January.

Emily Atkinson22 December 2022 11:00

Rail chaos spreads ahead of next national rail strike

Rail passengers between London, the West Midlands, northwest England, north Wales and southern Scotland face delays and crowded trains.

Avanti West Coast has cancelled at least 40 expresses to and from London Euston for Thursday, blaming a shortage of crew. Axed services include five each way between the capital and Manchester Piccadilly, and the same number to and from Liverpool Lime Street.

Ahead of a strike by members of the Unite union working for East Midlands Railway, travellers between London, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield will have no trains northbound after 7.35pm on Thursday.

A skeleton service will run on Friday 23 December, with no trains at all – apart from a Corby-London shuttle – on Christmas Eve morning.

The next RMT national strike begins at 6pm on 24 December and ends on 27 December at 6am.

Simon Calder22 December 2022 10:45