RMT claims hundreds of Southern trains have no guards

RMT union leaders will meet Southern rail bosses for talks on Tuesday

The RMT union has claimed the equivalent of 1,000 Southern rail services per year are operating without a second member of staff on board.

Union leaders are due to hold talks with rail bosses on Tuesday in an effort to resolve their dispute over changes to the role of guards (OBS).

They claim that on specific dates in January and February an average of three trains a day ran without an OBS.

Southern said a train could run without a guard "in exceptional circumstances".

The RMT said new figures showed that on nine days this year, when there was no industrial action, at least 26 trains did not have an on-board supervisor or second member of staff in addition to the driver.

It said this equated to three services a day, which would be 1,000 a year.

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General secretary Mick Cash said: "That's 1,000 journeys where a disabled passenger may not be able to get on or off the train or where passengers and the driver are at increased risk from anti-social behaviour or if something goes wrong, such as a derailment or fire."

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He added that members feared the figures were "the thin end of the wedge" and instances were "far more widespread and increasing".

"Guaranteeing a second member of safety critical staff on every train is the only way you can guarantee access for all and a safer journey for passengers," Mr Cash said.

In response a Southern spokesman said: "We said we would roster a second person to every train that had one before, and we are.

"However we also said in exceptional circumstances when an on board supervisor is unavailable we will run the train, rather than cancel it, because it is in passengers' interests to do so."

The drivers' union Aslef has been balloting its members on a deal aimed at resolving its dispute with Southern, with the result due on Thursday.