Train strikes – live: Christmas Eve travel disruption as drivers told ‘avoid roads until 7pm’

Members of the RMT union who work for Network Rail are walking out from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on 27 December.

When the Christmas strike was announced, the union said it was “specifically targeting engineering works” rather than passenger trains.

The aim was to scupper a £120m programme of improvement work planned for the Christmas shutdown – though Network Rail says 85 per cent of planned projects are going ahead.

Read the full story below from our travel correspondent, Simon Calder:

Planes, trains, driving lessons and postal deliveries are set to be disrupted by strikes in the days before Christmas.

Thousands of Border Force, National Highways, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and Royal Mail employees are due to take industrial action on Friday.

While these workers continue their strike into Saturday, staff represented by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Abellio London bus workers, and Environment Agency employees will also launch separate waves of action.

This follows two days of strikes by NHS staff, as thousands of nurses walked out on Tuesday, and ambulance workers joined picket lines on Wednesday.

More than 250,000 passengers arriving at UK airports on Friday have been warned to expect delays due to strikes by around 1,000 Border Force staff who are members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.

Rail passengers face severe travel disruption over Christmas and the New Year as workers stage a series of 48-hour strikes in December and January in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

The RMT union has revealed that more than 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will stage a series of 48-hour walk-outs.

Industrial action is due to take place over the key Christmas period, with members walking out from 6pm on 24 December until 7am on 27 December. Most trains do not run on 25 and 26 December anyway, but those aiming to travel by rail to see loved ones either side of Christmas Day will be affected.

Read the full story below:

The two further ambulance strike dates announced by Unison for January will “add even more pressure to an already challenging situation”, the head of a group representing NHS trusts across England has said.

Saffron Cordery, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Today's announcement of two more strike dates by a wider range of ambulance workers in January will add even more pressure to an already challenging situation following strike action by nurses and ambulance staff earlier in the week.

“We've already seen significant disruption to patient services with thousands of appointments being rescheduled or cancelled, with the fallout from this week's strike action likely to be felt for days to come.

“And we know that ambulance staff don't want to be striking either, but feel driven to take this step.

“The potential to continue to escalate action and for prolonged, co-ordinated strikes by more health unions in January if talks - including on pay - don't take place is incredibly worrying.

“There are no winners in this situation. Serious talks must take place between health ministers and unions - and fast.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has said that strikes by union members will cause “significant” disruption, but that the blame lies squarely with the government.

Around 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union employed by the Home Office to operate passport booths will walk out at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, he said his union had been “forced into this position”.

“There wouldn't be any disruption if the government, instead of being missing in action, asked itself why are we having an unprecedented amount of strike action in Britain? It is because of poverty.

“Public support or not, if the government is going to look you in the eye and say 'we know that the people we employ are using food banks and are desperate over Christmas - they cannot put the heating on in some cases - but we're going to do nothing about it, even though we can', what else are working men and women supposed to do other than the absolute last resort of withdrawing their labour?”

Around a quarter of a million passengers arriving at UK airports on Friday are being warned to expect delays due to the start of Border Force strikes.

Around 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union employed by the Home Office to operate passport booths will walkout at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex.

The Border Force strikes will take place every day from Friday to the end of the year, except 27 December.

Aviation data company Cirium said 1,290 flights are scheduled to land at affected airports on the first day of industrial action, with a total capacity of more than a quarter of a million passengers.

This is the busiest Christmas for airports since 2019, as it is the first festive period without coronavirus travel restrictions since the start of the pandemic.

There are fears that delays in checking the passports of arriving passengers could lead to long queues and even people being held on planes, disrupting subsequent departures.

A quarter of a million airline passengers set to arrive in the UK on Friday face a strike by members of UK Border Force at six of the country’s biggest airports.

And passengers on trains will be hit by delays and cancellations - all as 17 million drivers are expected on the roads in the next two days amid a four-day National Highways walkout. Simon Calder reports:

Drivers could face a higher-than-usual risk of “life-threatening” delays for assistance in the event of a motorway breakdown, according to the AA. Andy Gregory reports:

NHS trust leaders have warned strikes threaten to aggravate an “already deeply challenging situation” in the NHS: