Brighton Pride Travel Chaos Anticipated Following Train Cancellations

No trains will run from London to Brighton on Saturday 5 August, the first day of this year’s Brighton Pride event. According to Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP of Brighton Kemptown, there will be no Thameslink services south of Three Bridges to Brighton Mainline, causing potential chaos on one of the city's busiest days of the year.

Russell-Moyle states that Govia Thameslink Railway has claimed that it cannot acquire the extra drivers it needs to boost services due to an overtime ban by the Aslef Union (The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen), so has made the decision to cancel all of them. A petition launched by the MP states:

“The company has known for months this was going to happen and instead of making alternative plans they have taken the nuclear option of mass cancellations. Aslef have acknowledged that it would be possible to design a shift pattern that could accommodate the event, but GTR are refusing to engage.

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“GTR have enough drivers to cover the event if they were to reallocate from the Peterborough or Cambridge routes and run a shuttle service to London. Their decision to cancel all trains to Brighton will leave tens of thousands of people stranded and will be dangerous for those trying to get home.

“GTR can create a shift pattern that works but is instead cancelling all trains. It must urgently act to save Brighton Pride.”

General secretary of Aslef Mick Whelan responded to the petition with a statement, describing the shift of blame towards the union as “utterly ridiculous". He released the following statement:

“It is outrageous - and utterly ridiculous - to try to blame ASLEF for problems which are entirely of this train company’s own making. Let’s be clear - the simple fact is that this company does not employ enough drivers to deliver the services it has promised passengers, businesses, and the Department for Transport it will run. That’s why it is dependent on drivers working overtime.

“Overtime, of course, is entirely voluntary, not mandatory. And drivers are not working overtime because they are in dispute with a company which has not given them a pay increase for four years – since 2019 – although the cost of living, as we all know, has soared in that time – up well into double digits.

“GTR Thameslink has known the date of Brighton Pride – and about its failure to employ enough drivers to deliver the services it should – for a very long time. Yet they are only running trains to Three Bridges – just three-quarters of the way down the line – in a deliberate and malicious attempt to disrupt the LGBT+ day and then to blame ASLEF for its own manifest failings.

“That, I think, is beneath contempt. The company should do the right thing – give our members, their drivers, the pay rise they deserve – and give the people of Brighton the train service they need. Not just on the Saturday of Brighton Pride. But on every day, of every week, and for the rest of this year.

“The truth is that shift patterns mean that if services can run on a Friday, they can run on a Saturday. The company could have issued a special diagram to ensure people could get into – and out of – Brighton on the day. The fact that GTR Thameslink has chosen not to run services for passengers on Saturday reveals that this is a clear, conscious, and deliberate decision to disrupt – and ruin – Brighton Pride.”

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton and Hove, took to Twitter to relay her concerns following this development. "This is devastating news for the city, especially in this 50th anniversary of [the] first protest march," she wrote. "I’ve been in contact with Pride & the train company to try to find a resolution. I urge Ministers even at this late stage to get round table with GTR & Aslef to find way through."

More information is available on the National Rail and Trainline websites, as well as alternative rail replacement routes for those looking to get into Brighton for the Pride festivities.

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