Fresh data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that the impact of this year’s rail strikes so far is £251 million because of workers being unable to travel; over half of that hit was felt in London.
Kennedy does not believe strike action will let up. “The backs of the workers took a lot of strain through Covid — they’ve not had pay rises for some time,” he said. “People are just saying, ‘We can’t tighten our belts any longer.’
“We need to pay our bills, and we can only do that if we have a pay rise that meets inflation.”