Manchester trains: Avanti West Coast staff to strike on New Years Eve- full details

This comes as rail workers union RMT announced that strike action will be carried out by their train drivers employed by Avanti West Coast on New Year’s Eve. This could have an impact on passengers travelling to and from Manchester for New Year events.

Strike action for December 22, 23 and 29 was called off last week. This was for the union to consider Avanti’s latest pay offer, but it was an offer that over 80% of 400 members voted against.

Now, the union will have members on strike from December 31 to January 2 as well as Sundays from January 12 to May 25 2025.

Avanti West Coast operates mainline services between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. Other stops along the way include Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Rugby, and Milton Keynes.

An RMT spokesperson said: “Our members have resoundingly rejected Avanti’s latest offers in two referendums and sustained strike action is now the only way to focus management’s minds on reaching a negotiated settlement with the union.”

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “This strike action will cause significant disruption to our customers making journeys on the West Coast Main Line over an extended period. We’re disappointed our train managers who are RMT members have voted to decline the very reasonable, revised offer made to them to resolve the rest day working dispute and avoid inconveniencing our customers. We remain open to working with the RMT to resolve the dispute.”