London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Avanti West Coast suspends sales and cuts timetables

Avanti West Coast suspends sales and cuts timetables

A train operator has slashed its timetables and suspended ticket sales due to "severe staff shortages".

Avanti West Coast will run as few as four trains per hour from Sunday to halt the short-notice cancellations which recently disrupted its operation.

It normally operates up to seven per hour on the West Coast Main Line.

The limited timetable will be in place "until further notice", Avanti West Coast said.

London Euston and Manchester services are the worst affected with trains reduced from three per hour to one.

In a letter to the rail industry, Avanti West Coast managing director Phil Whittingham, wrote the "current industrial relations climate" had resulted in "severe staff shortages in some grades through increased sickness levels, as well as unofficial strike action by Aslef members".

Aslef insisted its members at Avanti West Coast are not involved in strike action before a walkout on Saturday in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

It had previously disputed the claims and said there was "no strike action - official or unofficial - by train drivers", adding the firm had simply not employed enough drivers.

Speaking on the Radio 4 PM programme Aslef General Secretary Mick Whelan said companies had lost "the good will" of their employees.

"Bearing in mind they were already running truncated timetables, must we ask ourselves how they are so short of drivers and what level of overtime must they have been working in the past," he said.

He added the union would come back to the table when Avanti West Coast "come and talk to us in a proper manner".

"What's the point of walking into a room when you already know the answer that you've been refused before," he said.

Avanti has sharply reduced its services


The company has also suspended ticket sales for travel from Sunday until 11 September while the new schedule is finalised to minimise the number of people disrupted.

It expects tickets for the first week of that period to be back on sale by the end of this week.

Tickets for the following weeks will be released on a rolling, weekly basis.

Mr Whittingham explained the operator normally ran around 400 trains per week with drivers voluntarily working on their rest days - for extra pay - but that had "dropped suddenly to fewer than 50".

He wrote the previous level of rest day working is "necessary" while more than 250 new drivers are recruited and trained.

"This decision was not taken lightly, and we are sorry for the enormous frustration and inconvenience this will cause," he added.

Passengers who have already bought tickets for trains that are removed from the timetable can travel on the service before or after their booked train.

If they no longer want to travel they can claim a full, fee-free refund.

Mr Whittingham urged rail unions to "engage in meaningful industry reform talks around modernising working practices and developing a railway fit for the 21st Century".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×