December travel 2023: Simon Calder unveils the worst day to travel this month as series of train strikes to take place

Travel expert Simon Calder has revealed which day will be the worst to travel on in December as several train strikes are set to take place this month. Speaking on GB News, Mr Calder said it is a “pretty bleak start to December” for travel as members of Aslef at 16 train operating companies will refuse to work overtime from Friday 1 December until 9 December and will stage a series of strikes between 2 and 8 December.

He said that already “we are seeing cancellations building up” but it is not hitting London Euston as of yet. He added: “If you are travelling anywhere on the TransPennine Express network from Liverpool, to Manchester, to Leeds, to York, Newcastle and to Edinburgh, well you are already seeing a lot of cancellations there. In London the main problem is actually from Thameslink.”

On Sunday 3 December there will be no Thameslink services running throughout the day as Aslef members take industrial action. Over the weekend engineering works will impact travel via Denmark Hill, affecting services between London Blackfriars and Sevenoaks.

Thameslink has also advised that services will be running to an amended timetable, with fewer services on Saturday as a result of the overtime ban. Customers are being advised to check before they travel and to plan ahead over the weekend.

Mr Calder warned that the worst day of December to travel that he predicts is “going to be on Sunday” when “there won’t be any trains from Avanti West Coast or on London Northwestern Railway, and the obvious alternate route would be to come down the East Coast but you can’t do that because there are engineering works. So I’m afraid if the strikes don't get you the engineering works probably will”.

Mr Calder added: “I’m afraid it is going to be a miserable December for rail travellers. Effectively there’s an entire advent calendar starting with nine days of an overtime ban by the train drivers union Aslef, a whole series of rolling strikes right across England. Then we get into the schedule cuts, and who could forget Christmas engineering works which are going be particularly bad on Christmas Eve."