UK rail services hit as train drivers walk out

London: Rail services were hit to large parts of the UK, including key tourist routes, as train drivers launched a new strike amid cost of living pres...

London: Rail services were hit to large parts of the UK, including key tourist routes, as train drivers launched a new strike amid cost-of-living pressures and decades-high inflation.

Members of the Aslef union representing train drivers are taking part in a three-day rolling strike which will also affect express services to London's Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow airports.

Union chief Mick Whelan blamed the industrial action on the "cost of living crisis created by the economic ineptitude of the Tories (Conservatives) that have been in power for 14 years".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to call a general election later this year with current opinion polls putting his government on course for a drubbing at the hands of Keir Starmer's main opposition Labour party.

Workers across the economy from doctors and nurses to lawyers, teachers and dock workers have taken strike action for pay hikes.