Royal Ascot racegoers could be left the tricky task of trying to get to to the racecourse for the Royal meeting next month as those expecting to get the train may have to find alternatives as workers at South Western Railway are set to take part in a five-day strike.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are set to walk out between Tuesday, June 18th and Saturday, June 22nd due to an issue regarding the role of train guards within the company.
If the strike does actually go ahead with it not being officially confirmed at the moment with a lot of speculation however, pointing in the direction that it does not look good for punters that were planning on getting certain trains the Royal meeting.
The strike is planned to affect the London Waterloo to Reading train line which normally brings in many of the travelling racegoers the meeting across all of the days, which would mean chaos for many punters coming from the capital.
South Western Rail are said to be planning on holding negotiations with the RMT Union to call off the strike and cancel industrial action.
(Credit Racing Post) An SWR spokesperson said: "With further Acas talks already in the diary for June 17, for the RMT Union to call a week of strikes starting the following day shows there is not a genuine commitment to finding a solution.
"We remain committed to finding a solution that will help us build a better railway for our customers and colleagues alike. If these strikes go ahead they will cause needless disruption. We are calling for the RMT to call off this unnecessary industrial action so that planned Acas talks can go ahead."
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "For more than three months we have sought to negotiate a conclusion to this dispute and it is wholly down to the management side that the core issue of the safety critical competencies and the role of the guard has not been signed off. It is because of that crucial failure by SWR that we have had no option but to lift the suspension and move back into strike action."
Royal Ascot are monitoring the ongoing situation but there is not a lot that they can do with the issue being out of there hands.