Southern rail services disrupted by fresh drivers’ overtime ban

Commuters on rail operator Southern are facing fresh disruption to their daily travel after a new overtime ban by drivers’ union Aslef came into force on Thursday.

The ban, which has seen a quarter of Southern’s train services axed, is the first action from Aslef members for six months after the union suspended a previous overtime ban at the beginning of June to focus on talks with management.

The new, indefinite overtime ban deals a blow to hopes that long-running trouble on Southern, which runs 2,200 daily services, will end.

Aslef is also balloting its members about strike action in a separate dispute over pay, which could lead to further disruptions.

For the past 15 months drivers belonging to Aslef and on-board train supervisors in the RMT union have been in dispute with Southern over its decision to transfer responsibility for closing train doors at stations from on-board supervisors to drivers.

Both unions say that the new system could endanger passengers, although the Office for Rail and Road, the industry safety regulator, has said the new arrangement can be at least as safe as the old system. The drivers use in-cab, closed-circuit television to monitor doors when they are being closed.

We’ve been safely running our trains with drivers closing the doors on additional routes since January and have had six months of sustained improvement

Southern said it planned to operate about 75 per cent of its weekday services on Thursday and Friday, and was working on restoring additional services from next week.

But holidaymakers will also face disruption, with no off-peak Gatwick Express services between Brighton and Gatwick airport. The train company said a limited peak service would remain in operation. There are also no direct rail services between London and both Southampton and Portsmouth.

Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said the ban “reflects the total loss of trust and goodwill between train drivers and the company”.

Angie Doll, passenger services director at Southern, said: “This action is going to be very inconvenient to our passengers and communities but by putting in this revised timetable we will be able to run a more reliable and consistent service.

“We’ve been safely running our trains with drivers closing the doors on additional routes since January and have had six months of sustained improvement in service levels and positive passenger feedback.”

Meanwhile, commuters have won a partial victory in their legal battle to bring a judicial review claim over the government’s handling of Southern.

The Association of British Commuters lobby group had brought a legal case in the UK High Court against the government. Its application was heard in the High Court on Thursday.

Jamas Hodivala, a barrister acting for the commuters, told the High Court that the action had been brought by some of the 300,000 commuters who used Southern and had been affected in various ways by the disruption, including overcrowding, loss of jobs and educational opportunities and loss of family time over a 14-month period.

The commuters claimed there had been an unreasonable delay by the transport secretary in determining within a reasonable time period whether Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Southern, was in breach of its franchise obligations.

The High Court heard that the transport secretary had still not decided whether Govia can claim “force majeure” — which exempts contracting parties from fulfilling legal obligations due to outside events — for the disruption on its services, but a decision was expected imminently.

The department of transport’s adjudication on this legal point is likely to be critical to the operator’s finances and whether it can retain control of the franchise.

Mr Justice Ouseley ruled that the secretary of state had two weeks to make his decision. If he misses the deadline, the commuters could bring their judicial review claim on the grounds of his delay.

The Department for Transport said: “We are pleased the High Court has thrown out the application for a judicial review by the Association of British Commuters.

“An independent report by rail expert Chris Gibb, which was published last week, made it very clear that the responsibility for disruption on Southern was primarily caused by industrial action led by RMT and Aslef and exceptional levels of staff sick leave.

“We have been considering whether the extensive disruption to the line last year was entirely beyond GTR’s control and our decision was due to be communicated to the company imminently.

“We are more than happy to inform GTR of the verdict within the 14 days required by the judge.”