Rail strikes trigger motorway mayhem as thousands forced to ditch public transport

Drivers faced chaos on the roads yesterday as striking railway workers forced thousands to ditch public transport.

Traffic crawled at 15mph in parts of the country as the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union shut down the rail network.

Hundreds of train routes weren’t available – and further disruption is expected this morning with many services setting off later than usual.

The AA had predicted heavy traffic with 15.2million set to travel yesterday after spending Christmas with family and friends.

Traffic built up on the M25 in Surrey, near Cobham, as people headed to the Boxing Day Sales

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However, delays were worse than expected with serious traffic jams on the M6 and M1 as well as the A303.

Boxing Day sales and Premier League matches also added to the misery as thousands more travelled up and down the country.

In total, thousands of passengers were affected by yesterday’s rail shutdown – which also saw Eurostar services cancelled. It meant National Express saw record numbers of passengers book on to its coaches yesterday.

Network Rail is now advising passengers to ‘only travel by train’ before January 9 ‘if absolutely necessary’ as further strikes scheduled by the RMT and train drivers’ union ASLEF will bring more misery.

But last night Paul Charles of travel consultancy The PC Agency warned unions they were doing themselves ‘no favours’ if they went ahead with further strikes.

He said: ‘The public are getting fed up with the railway workers over continuous striking and it’s clear that support for the railway workers is ebbing away. They haven’t done themselves any favours by calling for strikes in the new year when many will be needing to get into work.’

A series of accidents on major roads also caused further problems on Boxing Day.

Two collisions took place on the M25 – with the second leaving drivers stuck in 13 miles of queues, according to traffic data company Inrix.

And a crash involving 12 cars on the M6 saw the motorway shut in Wigan in the afternoon.

The AA said: ‘The motorways were looking pretty ugly around about midday. It has been worse than we expected with serious delays.’

National Highways yesterday insisted its network of major roads were ‘performing well’ aside from the areas where accidents had taken place.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail’s chief executive, said: ‘The RMT is causing needless misery to its own members, to the railway and to the country’s economy.

‘I am so sorry that our passengers are having to bear the brunt of the RMT’s needless strike when a fair offer is on the table and when only a third of the workforce have rejected it.’

The Daily Mail was unable to reach the RMT last night for a response. But its general secretary Mick Lynch previously said: ‘Until the Government gives the rail industry a mandate to come to a negotiated settlement on job security, pay and conditions of work, our campaign will continue.