My Grandfather was a train driver back in his day. He worked for the old original L.N.E.R company and later for British Rail. In 1982 the rail network was at a standstill when the union ASLEF demanded a pay rise and instructed it’s members to strike.

My grandfather didn’t agree with strike action saying it would be detrimental to the rail industry and in the long term would result in the loss of business. Therefore on strike days he would sacrifice his own time and take leave. Unfortunately he ran out of leave while the strike was still running so he went to work.

Turns out he was the driver of the only train the move on the entire BR network on that day. Afterwards he received hundreds of letters of support from people all over the world. The Sun newspaper even printed a completely fictious interview with him!!

ASLEF dismissed his stand as a “stunt” and even said he only did it because BR had threatened his pension because he was due to retire in a few weeks time. None of that was true.

I’m very proud of my grandfather for making a stand for something he believed was right.

One of the funny things that came out of it was a leading BBC 2 comedy program “Not The 9 O’clock News” actually wrote and feathered a song about him on March 8th 1982. Absolutely bizarre.