A dispute over staff taxis at Waterloo on South West Trains escalated into a company wide dispute concerning managers driving trains. It began when management restricted access to taxis, disingenuously alleging ‘abuse’.

But ASLEF members became concerned about the safety of passengers when staff who are not designated drivers perform their duties on strike days. During the first Waterloo strike, managers drove excessively long shifts without proper breaks and one manager who had not driven alone for over a decade was identified as strike breaking!

But as we write, ASLEF has called off the action it had called, without winning its demands, under threat of legal action from SWT over a balloting technicality.