Mayor of London “extremely concerned” over Brighton Pride train disruptions
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, Bella Sankey, have expressed their concerns over train disruptions due to take place during Brighton Pride.
In a joint letter sent to Partick Verwer, CEO of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), on 27 July, each shared their worries over there potentially being no service running between London and Brighton on 5 August. “As you are aware, this is the weekend of Brighton & Hove Pride, one of the biggest and significant events in the city and one of the most historic Prides in the country,” they wrote. “Every year people travel from all over the country to attend this celebration, including an estimated 100,000 by train, many of whom alight your service in London.” They added that having no trains running on this day “would have a disastrous impact on the safety and success of Pride” and “undermine” GTR’s reputation within the LGBTQ+ community. READ MORE: Sadiq Khan: “The trans community should not be stigmatised, demonised or weaponised” Khan and Sankey continued: “It is incredibly important that day travellers on Saturday 5 August are able to arrive and leave our cities in a safe, appropriate and managed way.
Your trains are an essential part of that and you have a huge responsibility to ensure our cities are not cut-off for one its most important LGBTQI+ events of the year. “GTR will be well-aware of the timing of Pride each year and I would expect your company to have planned ahead, have mitigated possible risks, and put in place suitable provision.
I understand that your position is that the service cannot be operated due to ASLEF’s ongoing overtime ban. However, I understand that ASLEF believe the service could still run by making
