In Brighton on the south coast, only 30 or 40 passengers who could no longer work from the extra bedrooms and kitchen tables were waiting on the platform for the Southern Rail service to London Victoria at 7.15am, most with jobs that they required them to travel. Among them was John Brett, a construction site manager who had to be in London as usual to oversee the construction of a new hotel in Soho. As someone who worked during the pandemic, Brett had little sympathy for the RMT union’s argument that the railroad workers deserved a pay rise because they had kept the country moving during this period. “I am grateful that the trains kept the pandemic running, but we all came to work,” he said. “I pay a lot of money – λί 150 a week – to go up and down [to London] and we just need a better service. “ John Brett had to be in London to oversee the construction of a new Soho hotel © Charlie Bibby / FT But across the country, a large number of other workers who are accustomed to working from home in the last two years have done so. “We had two years of practice and now we know very well that we can work from home when needed,” said Ann Francke, CEO of the Chartered Management Institute. “The world has changed. “Most of our members now have hybrid work as a rule, which means that strikes are not as annoying as they would have been three years ago.” Traffic congestion data from the TomTom site technology group showed only a modest increase in congestion levels outside London. In Hull the congestion increased by only 4 percent compared to the previous week, while the percentage was 7 percent in Liverpool and Newcastle. At the other end of the Brighton-London route, at Victoria Station in the capital, Stephanie Maull, a nurse at a hospital in west London, found it difficult to work across the street, taking several buses from East Dulwich. “Not everyone can work from home, but unfortunately this is a fact of our life and work. “I chose to do my job and I’m happy to come in,” he said. Stephanie Maull had to take several buses from East Dulwich © Anna Gordon / FT Many Londoners also got two wheels, with the volume of Santander Cycle rentals increasing by 46% on Tuesday morning compared to the previous day. But while bureaucrats have largely bypassed the chaos for leisure travelers and human-dependent industries such as restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and taxi driving, the strikes have caused personal upheaval and significant financial losses. In Manchester, Sandra Vid, from Middlesbrough, had to wait almost six hours at the airport after landing from Turkey to find that her train home to York via 5.40am had been canceled. At 8.30 a.m. was in Manchester Piccadilly, waiting another hour for a connection. But he said he showed sympathy for the striking railway staff. “Of course I do. I sympathize with anyone who does not pay enough. “Prices are rising for everyone,” he said. Sandra Vint waited almost six hours at Manchester Airport © Jennifer Williams / FT Outside the station, black taxi driver Yasir Abdelrahman Shaaeldin endured a long wait for passengers. “It is very quiet,” he said. “Such a breakfast, a lot of people coming in and out and that would be supported by drivers – I did not have a single fare yet.” For businesses such as restaurants and theaters, which were hit hard during the pandemic, the cost of the strike was calculated, once again, in canceled bookings and lost revenue. But this time there is no government protection for their losses. Muniya Barua, chief policy officer at London First, the capital’s business group, said this week’s rail strike was expected to reduce total gross value added – a measure of economic productivity – by £ 52 million across the country. capital city. Restaurant owner Soren Jessen, who owns 1 Lombard Street Restaurant in the City of London, said the site would be operating at a loss this week, reducing the potential for a strong start to June. “The half à la carte” [customers] “They have canceled 100 percent of our events,” he said. Soren Jessen says his restaurant in the City of London would be down this week © Anna Gordon / FT Des Gunewardena, president of D&D London, which has 45 restaurants mainly in the London area, said bookings were cut by a quarter this week, which was particularly painful in one of the busiest times of the year for corporate entertainment. . “The hospitality industry, especially in central London, has had a number of challenges as we try to recover from Covid, to tackle inflation. . . so we need it like a hole in the head, “he said. Brighton Rail Station © Charlie Bibby / FT Uncertainty about whether the strikes would resume over the summer was already triggering an increase in cancellations and postponements for future restaurant and conference bookings, according to Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality. Night trade in theaters, casinos and nightclubs will also be affected, warned Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, who said the cost would rise to “millions” as the industry enters the busy festival season. As a sign of what could follow, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, took what he said was a “very rare” step, canceling Madama Butterfly on Tuesday night and Così fan tutte on Wednesday and Saturday. . , blaming the strikes. And Glastonbury, the UK’s largest music festival, is also expected to be trapped in disarray as its doors open on Thursday. A bus to Glastonbury © Simon Chapman / LNP Some schools in London, where many more children travel to school from elsewhere, have also been forced to do extracurricular activities, scheduling elevator shares or even staff staying in hotels overnight, said Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis, a chain of about 50 people. academies throughout the United Kingdom.

He said the labor action highlighted the cost-of-living crisis affecting families in Oasis schools, where children have above-average free school meals. “No one wants a strike – I do not think the unions want a strike either,” he said. “But at the end of the day some of these transport workers will be parents of children in our schools.” Report by Peter Foster in Brighton, Daniel Thomas, Oliver Barnes, Philip Georgiadis and Bethan Staton in London and Jennifer Williams in Manchester