The leader of Brighton and Hove City Council and the mayor of London have written to a rail chief to do “everything possible” to lay on trains for Pride.
The joint letter from Councillor Bella Sankey and mayor Sadiq Khan to GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway) chief executive Patrick Verwer said that cancelling services would have “a disastrous impact on the safety and success of Pride”.
GTR – which runs Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services – said that it would not be able to operate any trains to or from Brighton on Saturday 5 August, the day of the annual Brighton Pride parade.
The company blamed an overtime ban by train drivers belonging to the ASLEF trade union, prompting widespread criticism of all involved.
The letter to Mr Verwer said: “Dear Patrick, We are extremely concerned to hear that GTR is considering running no trains between London and Brighton on Saturday 5 August 2023.
“As you are aware, this is the weekend of Brighton and Hove Pride, one of the biggest and most significant events in the city and one of the most historic Prides in the country.
“Every year people travel from all over the country to attend this celebration, including an estimated 100,000 by train, many of whom alight your service in London.
“Any possibility that GTR would not run any train services into Brighton mainline station from the surrounding region would have a disastrous impact on the safety and success of Pride.
“It would also deeply undermine your reputation as a company committed to the LGBTQI+ communities.
“It is incredibly important that day travellers on Saturday 5 August are able to arrive and leave our cities in a safe, appropriate and managed way.
“Your trains are an essential part of that and you have a huge responsibility to ensure our cities are not cut off for one its most important LGBTQI+ events of the year.
“GTR will be well aware of the timing of Pride each year and I would expect your company to have planned ahead, have mitigated possible risks and put in place suitable provision.
“I understand that your position is that the service cannot be operated due to ASLEF’s ongoing overtime ban.
“However, I understand that ASLEF believe the service could still run by making adjustments to staffing rotas.
“We are asking that GTR urgently work with ASLEF and other partners to explore all possible options to ensure the availability of a full schedule of transport to and from our cities on Saturday 5 August.
“The council’s and the mayor’s support for a safe and successful Pride in Brighton and to the LGTBQI+ communities in both our cities is unwavering and we want to see that you are doing everything possible in support of this event.”
There was 12 comments on this today,why have they been wiped off?
Bigots were trying to claim this shouldn’t be reported as news, despite Pride being Brighton’s biggest event, attended by 500,000 people.
These strikes have been affecting me for 2 years – I’ve learn’t to make alternative arrangements – there are plenty – get over it and stop the hissy-fitting and paranoia when you can’t get your own way
Well done you! As you well know, the volume of people coming to Brighton during Pride is much larger than usual (half a million people attend and 100,000 travel here by train). What “alternative means” would you propose is scalable to 100,000 people? Why do you think that cutting Brighton off from the rest of the country during it’s largest event is acceptable?
well my neighbours 93 and he cycled to yorkshire and back a few years ago – so what’s wrong with the good old bike – even if it does make you a bit saddle sore… better than nothing
Moronic management. A desicion like this would have been taken at the very top of the company. They should be sacked tbh. Irrespective of LGBTQ, this is the busiest day of travel to and from Brighton and it’s truly criminal they have pulled this stunt and put in on the unions door
Why were the two biggest rail companies, Thameslink and Southern Rail allowed to merge in the first place? In doing so, they have killed-off any competition and are thus able to do what they like with no consequence. This is an absolutely disgusting way for a company to behave and I believe they should have their operating licences reviewed. To announce, a week before Pride, that they wouldn’t be running any trains is quite clearly an attempt to turn the public against the unions – who aren’t on strike, but refusing to work overtime. Well it’s backfired big time.