'Disappointment' as train cancellations go ahead

Hassocks is one of the stations affected by the cancellations

Train cancellations across the south coast will go ahead on Saturday, affecting major events such as Pride in Brighton and Hove and Glorious Goodwood in Chichester.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) services will be extremely limited across the south coast, with very few trains running south of Three Bridges to the whole of East and West Sussex.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey said GTR's decision was "extremely disappointing" as talks were called off between the council and the railway operator.

GTR - which runs Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express - has apologised to passengers and said cancellations were due to "safety concerns for Brighton Pride".

Ms Sankey said the council had tried to work with GTR to find "a creative solution" but the company had "decided to maintain their position of running no trains, effectively cutting off the city".

"This has knock-on consequences for traffic congestion and risks leaving people stranded," she said.

Ms Sankey said "a workable and safe solution could have been found by a company tasked with providing an essential public service to our city".

GTR said Pride required "significant extra capacity" and an Aslef union overtime ban meant there were "far fewer services running than usual".

"We simply cannot run a safe service with enough capacity for the extraordinary number of passengers that travel to Brighton," said Chris Fowler, network and operations performance director at GTR.

National Express has confirmed it is putting on extra coach services to Brighton over Pride weekend, with 1,000 additional seats to help meet demand.

Brighton and Hove Pride attracts crowds of 300,000

Brighton and Hove is not the only area affected.

There will be "no service along the coast ways from Southampton and Portsmouth, to Worthing, Seaford and Hastings," a statement from GTR said.

A search on the National Rail website also showed no trains to Eastbourne, Lewes, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and Chichester, where nearby Goodwood race course is hosting a week-long festival ending on Saturday.

Aslef said GTR's decision was "beneath contempt".

General secretary Mick Whelan said: "If services can run on a Friday, they can run on a Saturday."

"This is a clear, conscious, and deliberate decision to disrupt – and ruin – Brighton Pride,’ he added.

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