Train strikes - Uni visits - frustration

[Cuckoo48]

Just wanting to share my frustration with someone who may share it!

Booked two Uni open days at two different northern universities 200 and 300 miles from home.

Booked Friday off work (swapped shifts with a colleague) so we could travel Thursday after work; first night in one city and two in the other - so three nights in two different city centre hotels (without parking).

Plus two restaurants and of course train tickets.

Now the effin' train drivers are on strike that weekend 😡

Loads of universities are doing their open days 24-26th June so do check travel arrangements if you're planning to attend any.

I'm with you! Really frustrating. I wonder if they will reorganise them or assume people will come by car?

Not sure where you are but when drivers went on strike in my region last week there were still trains running and tickets on cancelled trains were valid on the services that did go. They were a bit crowded and you needed to allow extra time but you could still travel.

Well I suppose I could drive.... but I have booked city centre hotels with train stations in mind, not parking. And it's turns what was supposed to a fun weekend exploring with my DD into quite a tiring and stressful one for me, behind the wheel for long periods. I'm just fed up about it! Wonder if there any chance the strikes will get called off?

It doesn't sound like that will be the case this time: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61634959

Can you go early Friday and move on to second city for Friday night, return home Sunday?

It's so frustrating isn't it. We had this for university open days in 2018 when Northern Rail went on striker every Saturday from August bank holiday until Christmas. I had to drive DD to all the university open days.

We're expecting the rail strike to have an impact on open-day attendance that weekend, but most (probably all) universities will be running more open days in the autumn - e.g. Manchester has them on 1st & 15th October - and many also run them during the Clearing period in August.

Is your daughter applying for a course with an October deadline, or January?

Effects is too. We're already taking a circuitous route due to engineering on the mainline and DH is using car to pick up DD's stuff from a different uni so not sure what we are going to do yet .

Yep, DS was going to travel by train, now we will have to drive. Could be worse, his preferred uni is the other end of the country!

Just to clarify this strike is not 'the effing drivers' it is across the whole network and more crucially the signallers, without who no trains can run. It's not a driver strike. I'm sorry you are inconvenienced, but please don't blame train drivers when they are only a minute drop in a huge ocean of rail staff.

Look at National express