A picket line is operating outside Harrogate train station this morning as rail strikes resume.
The RMT union and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) are striking today, Wednesday and next Saturday over pay and conditions.
Previous industrial action was cancelled because it coincided with the Queen’s mourning period.
The strikes have affected some people travelling to Harrogate for the three-day Green Party autumn conference, which started yesterday, as well as football fans that planned to catch the train for today’s Harrogate Town vs Bradford City derby at 1pm.
About 15 picketers turned up to support the action today.
Rail passengers have also been warned to expect disruption on Harrogate’s LNER services from today until October 9.
Major engineering works in the Newcastle area by Network Rail will affect many services on the LNER route during this period.
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No Harrogate and Knaresborough trains on Thursday amid more strikes
No trains will run through Harrogate and Knaresborough on Thursday amid more national strikes.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union and Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association are set to strike this week over pay and conditions.
The latest industrial action will see thousands of workers walk out on Thursday and Saturday.
Northern, which operates trains in Harrogate and Knaresborough, has advised passengers not to travel on those days.
As a result of the strike action, no trains will run to Leeds and York from Harrogate on Thursday.
Services are still scheduled to run on Saturday, but Northern has warned that passengers may still face disruption.
Northern said:
“RMT and TSSA unions have called for industrial action on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August. We are advising Northern customers not to travel on these days.
“We also expect disruption to services on Friday 19 and Sunday 21 August, especially in the morning. Customers are urged to check before they travel on these days.”
Mick Lynch, general secretary at RMT, said:
“The rail industry and the government need to understand that this dispute will not simply vanish.
“They need to get serious about providing an offer on pay which helps deal with the cost-of-living crisis, job security for our members and provides good conditions at work.”
Read more:
- Striking RMT union pickets Harrogate train station
- Harrogate and Knaresborough trains to Leeds to be reinstated in December
Last month, members of the RMT union organised a picket line outside Harrogate train station as part of the ongoing dispute.
No trains from Harrogate tomorrow due to industrial action
No trains will run from Harrogate to Leeds and York as rail staff stage a mass walk out on Wednesday.
More than 40,000 Network Rail staff are set to strike on July 27 over jobs, pay and conditions, the RMT Union has confirmed.
The move comes as the UK saw one of its biggest industrial actions by rail workers in June, which saw no trains run through Harrogate and Knaresborough for two days.
On Wednesday, no trains will run between Harrogate and Knaresborough to York and Leeds.
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Meanwhile, Network Rail has confirmed that a reduced timetable will be in force elsewhere.
Leeds station will close at 7pm due to the industrial action. Only 14 train services will run in and out of the station each hour on Wednesday compared with the usual 50.
Matt Rice, North & East route director for Network Rail said:
“Unfortunately, ongoing industrial action will once again cripple train services for passengers in Yorkshire and the North East on Wednesday.
“I can only apologise for the impact this will have on people’s plans and on their daily commute. I’d urge those who absolutely need to travel by train to plan ahead, check their journey and expect significant disruption.”
Last week, Northern urged passengers not to travel due to the industrial action.
LNER has also confirmed its direct service to London King’s Cross will not be running. A limited service to London will be in place from Leeds.
Harrogate and Knaresborough trains to Leeds to be reinstated in DecemberEarly morning trains from Harrogate and Knaresborough to Leeds are to be reinstated in December.
Rail operator Northern has confirmed to the Harrogate Line Supporters Group that the company will revert to its December 2021 timetable.
It means the 6.07am and 6.33am services will return, and hourly rather than two-hourly trains will operate in the evening.
Northern reduced services in May, blaming lack of resources and the need to recruit and train more drivers.
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones was among those criticising the move.
Pete Myers, stakeholder manager at Northern, has written to the Harrogate Line Supporters Group saying Network Rail has approved its plans to revert to the December 2021 timetable.
Brian Dunsby, of the Harrogate Line Supporters Group, welcomed the news, saying:
“This is what we have wanted all along. They cancelled services without consulting with us or anybody and got quite a backlash for it.”
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Which services are affected?
Mr Dunsby detailed what the changes will mean to commuters.
“This means that the 6.07 and 6.33 services to Leeds will be reinstated calling at all stations and due into Leeds at 06:44 and 07:10 respectively.
“These are very important for business and leisure travellers to London and other destinations from Leeds.
“They also hope to reinstate the 08:05 service from Harrogate to Leeds due into Leeds at 08.41.
“They also hope to reinstate the 16:29 service from Leeds via Harrogate to York, departing Harrogate at 17:05 and due into York at 17:42.
“Also reinstated should be the 18:13 service from York to Leeds via Harrogate departing Harrogate at 18:47 and due into Leeds at 19:23.
“Also reinstated should be the 19:29 service from Leeds to York, departing Harrogate at 20:05 and due into York at 20:44.
“Also reinstated should be the 21:10 service from York to Leeds, departing Harrogate at 21:44 and due into Leeds at 22:21.
“Also reinstated should be the 22:39 service from Leeds to Harrogate and due into Harrogate at 23:16.
“These services should all certainly be reinstated from December 11, 2022 and possibly from September 2022 if their driver training schedule continues as planned.
“This is very good news for Harrogate Line passengers. Many thanks to the Northern rail management team for responding to our pleas.”
Trains between Harrogate and Leeds cancelled due to person hit by train
Trains between Harrogate and Leeds have been cancelled or delayed due to a person being hit by a train. UPDATE: Police have confirmed that the person has died at Horsforth train station, Leeds.
The delays and cancellations are expected to continue until 12pm and possibly longer, Northern said.
Emergency services attended the incident which happened at around 7am this morning near Leeds.
A statement from Northern said:
“Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Leeds and Harrogate all lines are blocked.
“Train services running through these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 12:00 19/04.”
https://twitter.com/LNER/status/1516312793384894464?s=20&t=YU0fpNbz6dDWiydEACU6SA
The LNER (London North Eastern Railway) tweeted:
“It is with great sadness to report due to a person being hit by a train.
“A bus replacement is available for customers travelling onwards to #Horsforth and #Harrogate. Please see station staff on arrival at #Leeds.”
Rail replacement buses are currently running from Harrogate to Horsforth. The journey times are expected to increase by 30 minutes due to the incident.
Northern tickets will also be accepted between York and Leeds on Transpennine Express Services.
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Harrogate man fined for damaging train
A man from Harrogate has been fined for causing £1,093 worth of damage to a stationary train at Harrogate Station last year.
Michael Anthony Burke, 56, pleaded guilty at York Magistrates Court on Monday to causing criminal damage to a LNER train.
The incident occurred on June 11 last year.
Burke, of Nydd Vale Terrace, was fined £120, ordered to pay a victim’s surcharge of £85 and to pay £85 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
He also pleaded guilty to trespassing on the railway lines.
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Burke also pleaded guilty to attempting to enter Crampton Moore Electronics on Commercial Street, as a trespasser with intent to steal.
The court issued a further community order to Burke for the final two offences.
Missing teen sighted at Harrogate train station this morningPolice are searching for a missing teenager who may be in the Harrogate area.
Benjamin Robert Leach, 16, has been reported missing after leaving a property in Selby on Wednesday, January 19.
Officers carried out enquiries and believe he is in the Harrogate area after a sighting at Harrogate train station in the early hours of this morning.
A North Yorkshire Police statement added:
“Benjamin is described as 5ft 5in tall, with short dark brown hair and brown eyes.
“Any immediate sightings should be reported to North Yorkshire Police via 999 quoting reference 12220010596. Any information which would assist officers to locate Benjamin should be reported via 101 quoting the same reference number.”
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Police officer bitten after disturbance at Harrogate rail station
A man bit a police officer during a disturbance at Harrogate railway station that was so severe an armed response unit had to be sent out.
Thomas Spedding, 33, sunk his teeth into the officer’s arm after the victim, who was off duty, spotted what appeared to be a “family dispute”, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Charles Blatchford said the victim tried to break up the disturbance and told Spedding he was a police officer.
During the ensuing struggle on the station platform, the off-duty constable was bitten on the forearm which broke the skin, leaving an 8cm mark and bruising.
The train guard tried to intervene, but it needed armed-response officers to subdue Spedding, who had serious mental-health problems and a record for attacking police vehicles.
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The victim, who was named in court but we have chosen not to reveal his identity, was taken to Harrogate District Hospital for blood tests and precautionary vaccinations and had to be monitored for 24 weeks to ensure there was no infection.
Spedding, of no fixed abode, was arrested and charged with assaulting an emergency worker following the incident on March 1, 2019.
26 offences to police vehicles
He was bailed pending further enquiries but four months later he was arrested again for 26 offences of damaging police vehicles, which resulted in a 10-month jail sentence in August 2019.
Such was his mental state that after Spedding completed that sentence he remained in custody for the following two years while he received help for his mental health and psychiatrists assessed his fitness to face court proceedings on the assault charge.
A trial of the facts had to be held in Spedding’s absence, which found that he did the act alleged and on Thursday he pleaded guilty to the offence after psychiatrists judged him fit to face the court following a vast improvement in his mental health during his time in prison.
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Mr Blatchford said the off-duty officer had just been on a course and was returning to Harrogate on the train when the disturbance occurred at the station.
The court heard that Spedding’s two previous convictions for 26 offences all related to just two incidents of damaging property in June and July 2019.
Mental disorder
Timothy Jacobs, for Spedding, said his client had effectively been on custodial remand for two years and that his mental-health issues had “caused considerable concern in the past”.
He added:
“He is now responding to treatment and voluntarily co-operating with those who are trying to help him.”
Judge Simon Hickey said the off-duty officer would have felt “extreme concern” about the risk of infection following the bite to his arm.
He told Spedding:
“Ordinarily, this would have been an immediate custodial sentence (but) you were labouring under a mental disorder at the time.
“You have served well over that sentence (already) and society is best served, and you are best served, by rehabilitation.”
Imposing a two-year community order, the judge said Spedding had made “great strides” in his rehabilitation while in prison.
The order includes a nine-month drug-rehabilitation programme and intervention by a community mental-health team.
LNER plans significant changes to Harrogate to London rail scheduleLNER is planning to change its East Coast Main Line timetable from May 2022, with a significant shake-up to services from Harrogate.
The operator currently runs six trains each way between London King’s Cross and Harrogate each day and there are several key changes on the cards.
It says the planned improvements will benefit its fleet of 65 diesel-electric Azuma trains, which use Japanese bullet train technology.
LNER is calling for the public to give feedback on the full timetable over the next eight weeks.
Big changes to and from London
Direct departures from Harrogate to the capital would move from odd hours to even ones:
- The first service would leave earlier, at 6.35am rather than 7.34am
- A new seventh daily train would leave Harrogate at 6.35pm. On the current schedule, the last train departs at 5.36pm.
In the opposite direction, from London direct to Harrogate:
- Trains would start almost an hour earlier (6.40am rather than 7.33am)
- The final service back would also be earlier, at 4.39pm rather than 5.33pm.
- There are no plans to run an extra seventh train from London to Harrogate.
LNER estimates that travel times between Harrogate and London would be about 10 minutes faster.
There would be a new direct daily service to Newark North Gate, but this would come at the expense of the direct Grantham service. Passengers to the south-west Lincolnshire market town would need to change at Leeds or Doncaster.
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The rail company said in its consultation document that the May 2022 timetable’s core structure is fixed, but that “it may be possible to make some local adjustments in response to feedback”.
David Horne, LNER managing director, said:
“Our new consultation gives us the opportunity to hear the views of our customers and communities across LNER’s route on the proposed improvements we’d like to make from next May, including faster services and more seats between London, York Newcastle and Edinburgh.
“We are confident of the future of long-distance rail travel on the East Coast route and that, by delivering to our customers the full benefit of our new trains and upgraded tracks, we can help level-up and connect the country, protect the environment and support our communities and destinations.”
Have your say on the plans here. The consultation is open until August 5.
It will be the “end of an era” for veteran newsagent Brian Moses who, with a heavy heart, will close the Bookstall newsagent at Harrogate Railway Station after 30 years due to the financial impact of covid-19.
Brian won the title of UK newsagent of the year in 2016 but he said running the business is not viable in the current economic climate.
He said with trains quiet and commuters from Leeds still working from home, he can’t see trade returning to what it was before covid “for a long, long time”. A changing market has also seen magazine and newspaper sales decline over the past few years, with more and more people reading online.
Brian, who is 65, has worked in newsagents in Harrogate since he was 15 but fears there will be none left in the town in just a decade.
He said:
“Many of the other newsagents that are remaining in Harrogate are up for sale and I fear for the news trade over the next ten years.
“It’s not the way I intended to go out but it’s time to let go. It wasn’t an easy decision but financially it had to be.”
Read more:
The Bookstall has been a vital pit stop for commuters taking the train from Harrogate and Brian has seen famous sports stars, TV presenters and his fair share of ex-Leeds United footballers stop in for a packet of mints, a bottle of pop or a crossword puzzle book.
But he said his most memorable customer was Prince Charles who bought copies of Horse and Hound and Country Life magazines when the Royal Train passed through Harrogate.
Brian has racked up more than 50 years in the trade as, before taking over the Bookstore in 1989, he helped his own father run a newsagent on St Winifred’s Road.
Brian said news has been “a real family affair” as his son Paul also run the shop but will now move on to pastures new.
He said he will miss the customers but is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Mandy, who recently retired as a nurse from St Michael’s Hospice after 24 years.
He said:
“I’ve done 5 AM starts for the last 50 years, so that will take a long time to get out of that.
“But I’ll miss the banter and the ‘good morning’ from the little old lady to friends who come in, discuss sports and have a craic. I’ll miss my regulars.
“It will be sad but things have got to move on. I’m the first of many that will be going in Harrogate, it’s a changing world.”
The Bookstall will close this Saturday.