Exact date train drivers to strike as commuters to be hit by MORE travel hell and Tory Party conference faces disruption

TRAIN drivers will go on strike on the first and last days of the Tory party conference, union chiefs confirmed this morning.

Members of the Aslef union will walk out of work on September 30 and October 4.

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The strikes will affect 16 rail operators, including LNER, Avanti West Coast, and TransPennine Express.

Union bosses and ministers have been locked in a major dispute over pay and conditions for over a year.

The latest round of walkouts have been timed to coincide with the beginning and end of the Tory party conference in Manchester.

Thousands of delegates, including MPs and ministers, will travel from across Britain to the swanky Midland Hotel, where the four-day event is being held.

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The Tory conference is an opportunity for Rishi Sunak to sell his vision for the next election to his party and the country.

But it will now take place against a backdrop of chaos on the railways.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: "While we regret having to take this action - we don't want to lose a day's pay or disrupt passengers as they travel by train - the Government and employers have forced us into this position.

"Our members have not had a pay rise for four years - since 2019 - and that's not right when prices have soared in that time.

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"Train drivers quite reasonably want to be able to buy now what they could buy four years ago."

Similar industrial action took place on the first and last day of Tory conference in Birmingham last year.

Thousands of card carrying Tories were forced to find alternative modes of travel in and out of the West Midlands as railways ground to a halt.

Alongside railways, more strikes could be on the way for school support staff in Scotland.

A third union, Unite, has rejected a pay offer from council employers.

Unite slammed the revised offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which it argued would only hike pay by £0.01 per hour for those on the lowest wages.

The union warned that members across 11 councils will walk out later this month.