Fresh misery ahead for Southern passengers

GUARDS on Southern Railway are to stage a five-day strike in the long-running dispute over their role.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will walk out from August 8.

Southern’s services – including those that run from Portsmouth – have been hit by delays and cancellations for several weeks because of industrial action.

The RMT said it had offered a three-month pause to action if the company agreed to suspend its proposals for driver-operated doors and allow talks to take place.

A union spokesman said: ‘The union wrote to new transport secretary Chris Grayling asking for talks after he said it was a priority to sort out the chaos on Southern. That letter has been ignored.’

Southern, owned by Govia Thameslink Railway, is planning to change the role of conductors on August 21.