Engineering news
Trade union fears over train defects such as wheel flats on the prestigious London to Scotland sleeper service are set to trigger strike action among railway staff.
The RMT union said members on the Caledonian Sleeper, had voted by nine to one for both strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute with the service's new operator Serco.
RMT said that a raft of technical problems on the Caledonian Sleeper rolling stock had not been addressed and that the ballot had delivered a resounding vote for strike action.
Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said; “The sleeper franchise was awarded to Serco by the Scottish government and the multi-national privateer took over from First Group on 31 March this year. Our members have been unhappy with Serco's management of the iconic service from Scotland to London since the very early days of them taking on this fifteen year franchise.
“Serco is a company who are specialists in failure when it comes to public sector contracts and RMT has no intention of allowing them to get away with compromising the safety of staff and passengers on the sleeper service. The union will announce its next moves shortly and remains available for meaningful talks."
Technical problems on the rolling stock included a huge number of wheel flats in recent months, which has led to some services being completely cancelled and passengers being bussed from Scotland to London, said RMT. Furthermore, it added, there have been cases of smoke detectors being disconnected, lighting and heating systems not working and air conditioning failing throughout the summer months.
Loss of power in coaches during journeys has also meant that staff have had to find alternative accommodation during the night for irate passengers
“There are currently over 200 defects on these trains, not including the wheel flats,” said the RMT.
A Serco spokesperson was unavailable for comment.