Scotland fans warned to plan ahead of ScotRail strike on Sunday

Scottish football fans returning from London on Sunday have been warned to make alternative arrangements as strike action will mean there is little or no onward rail travel from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Cross-border train operators expect hundreds of people to be travelling back to Scotland on Sunday following the Euro 2020 match against England on Friday.

But there will be no services within Scotland running from Edinburgh Waverley and a very limited number around Glasgow.

ScotRail staff are striking for pay equality and RMT union said the franchise operator, Dutch-owned Abellio, has refused to enter talks to broker a settlement before the weekend.

Travelling this weekend? @RMTunion’s strike action is causing the cancellation of most ScotRail services on Sundays. Find out how your journey will be affected below.
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) June 17, 2021

David Simpson, operations manager at ScotRail, said: “The key message really is be aware of this disruption on Sunday and plan accordingly if you are planning indeed to come back to Scotland on that day hopefully from a victorious result.

“The train service in Scotland will be very limited, so the message is very much check ahead, plan ahead so you can get home safely following the game on Friday night.”

ScotRail’s head of customer operations, Phil Campbell, called the strike action on Sunday “unjustified and disruptive”.

These pathetic attempts to turn the public against your own members of staff really need to stop @ScotRail. Instead of these despicable social media own goals why not try and negotiate a settlement with us? https://t.co/yVcmJlcmi8
— RMT (@RMTunion) June 17, 2021

Only around 15% of normal services will be operating in the Strathclyde region on Sunday as LNER and Avanti West Coast trains bring Scotland fans back to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Staff at the stations will be able to provide advice and other forms of transport will be available. ScotRail also wanted to remind fans that any available services will be subject to the current ban on alcohol, which is still in force during the tournament.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “It is despicable that Abellio has tried ‎to turn Scottish football fans against ScotRail workers and I want to thank the public for standing with their frontline rail workers against this greedy cowboy outfit.”