Rail strikes: 'We all have a voice, so let people be heard'

Clive Adams is aiming to hop from train to train to reach Hungary

With train strikes affecting commuters across England again, passengers have been having their say on how it has changed their journeys and what they hope comes from the industrial action.

Clive Adams has a busy few days of train travel ahead of him, despite the strikes currently affecting a number of services.

The 62-year-old, from Southwell in Nottinghamshire, was travelling from Newark to London King's Cross on Wednesday before heading out to Europe, and praised staff for trying to assist travellers.

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"People have been nothing but helpful," he said.

"I've just been in the station there and they've been nothing but helpful in trying to get me to London.

"The difficulty is tomorrow I head off across Europe - I'm going off to Hungary hopping from train to train - and I think the most difficult thing is going to be, rather unfortunately, getting out of the UK.

"I'm feeling a bit anxious, but hopefully I'll be able to blag myself onto an earlier train."

'Nothing new'

While acknowledging the "complicated" issues around industrial action, Mr Adams said more effort should have been made to reach an agreement.

"Clearly there's rights and wrongs on both sides, but clearly not to sit down and negotiate seems ridiculous," he said.

"[The government] seem to be avoiding their responsibilities, but that's nothing new."

Claire Wainwright, 37, was travelling from Newark, where she lives, to Grantham in Lincolnshire.

"To start off with it was an inconvenience because it was a full strike," she said.

"Then it turned to a limited service and I've actually travelled fine so it's not been a problem for me.

"I wouldn't say I support it because I appreciate the inconvenience it's caused thousands of commuters, but if it's going to work then I guess it's worked for them and they've achieved what they were looking for."

Robert Banks drove from Lincoln to Newark to catch his train to London

Robert Banks drove from his home in Lincoln to catch the Newark train to King's Cross in London.

The 31-year-old said not having his usual rail connection was not too difficult to deal with.

"I support what they're doing to get the conditions they want to work in so to me it's not much of an inconvenience," he said.

"It's a minor inconvenience, but it doesn't really bother me."

Andy Johnson said he hoped striking railway workers get what they want

For Adam Johnson, 34 and from Rainworth, his trip from the capital back to north Nottinghamshire was "no problem".

"It was quite nice to get a seat for a change," he said.

"From my perspective, we all have a right, we all have a voice, so let people be heard.

"It's not affected me today, and from a rail worker's perspective I do hope they get what they want."