Scarborough Railway Station deserted as strikes begin causing major disruption and warning not to travel

Scarborough Railway Station was deserted this morning, except for two customer advisors and, they said, a handful of people arriving who had not seen or heard the news of the strike action.

Two young women were horrified to learn they were unable to go to York by train: "We knew nothing about it," they said.

One advisor was there to take advance journey bookings and queries; the station is still open even though there are no train services on the strike days.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced fresh industrial action after talks over pay and redundancies fell through.

The strikes have been organised for Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday June 25 with all passengers urged to seek alternative routes for their journey.

TransPennine Express said Scarborough Railway Station, Seamer and Malton will all be completely closed with no services calling on strike days as a result.

The industrial action falls on the same day as the Armed Forces Day national event in Scarborough, which is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors to the town over the weekend.

TransPennine Express said an amended timetable will be in place and that there will also be significant disruption on Wednesday 22 and Friday June 24.

Kathryn O'Brien, Customer Experience Director at TransPennine Express, said: "Due to the RMT action we will only be able to operate around 10 per cent of our usual daily services.

"Alongside other operators, we simply won't be able to provide journeys for the tens of thousands of customers who would normally rely on us and any services we are able to run will be extremely busy.

"It's extremely disappointing that RMT has chosen to take strike action which will not only cause significant disruption for our customers but will also damage the recovery of the rail industry."

Northern, which operates some routes out of Scarborough, said services will be "extremely limited" due to the lack of both train crew and signalling staff. It has advised passengers not to travel between Tuesday June 21 and Sunday June 26.

Tricia Williams, Chief Operating Officer at Northern, said: "We've done everything we can to offer people across the North of England a skeleton service – but our advice remains not to travel.

Network Rail said about half of all rail lines across the country will be closed.

TransPennine Express tickets will be accepted on Northern, Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Lumo, LNER, Hull Trains and FirstBus services in West Yorkshire, some exclusions will apply.

It said passengers' tickets will be valid for travel on the day prior and two days after any strike action and anyone who chooses not to travel will be entitled to a full refund.