Strikes planned for Scottish railway stations suspended

A SERIES of planned strikes by booking office staff at some of the country's busiest railway stations was suspended yesterday to allow peace talks to go ahead.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association cancelled walk-outs due to be held at rush-hour in the coming weeks at stations on the west coast Glasgow to London line, saying Virgin Trains had agreed to "meaningful discussions" in a row over booking office window closures.

The union has already held a number of strikes in protest at the introduction of new machines in ticket offices.

Gerry Doherty, union general secretary, said: "We welcome the talks and hope to achieve a solution which maintains a full booking office service."

Virgin has insisted it is not cutting jobs or closing ticket offices.