Brighton Pride: No trains to run to or from Brighton station on August 5 due to 'serious safety concerns'

ASLEF has notified train operators that there will be a ban on overtime between July 31 and August 5.

This means Southern will have far fewer services available to serve Brighton, with significantly less capacity than is required for people to travel safely on the busiest day of Pride.

Trains on the Brighton Main Line will terminate at Three Bridges. No services will run on the coastways into Brighton because of the amended timetable we will have in place.

Anyone planning to attend Pride on Saturday by rail will need to make alternative arrangements.

Friday, August 4 and Sunday, August 6 are not affected and events on the Saturday are still going ahead.

Southern have apologised for the inconvenience and disappointment this will cause but stressed their ultimate aim is to keep people safe on this occasion.

A statement on Southern’s website said: “GTR [Govia Thameslink Railway] has an extremely long-standing relationship with Pride and we are very sorry we cannot support this important event this year.

“We are bitterly disappointed and know this will be incredibly frustrating for everyone who will be impacted, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community.

“We have looked at every available option but ultimately the safety of customers and our colleagues must come first. This has been an exceptionally difficult decision to make and we thank the council, police and emergency services for their advice.

“Unfortunately, ASLEF has notified train operators that there will be a ban on overtime between 31 July and 5 Aug. In this period, we have an amended timetable in place. This means we will have far fewer services available to serve Brighton, with significantly less capacity than is required for people to travel safely on the busiest day of Pride – Saturday 5 August.

“Every year, we run a significantly enhanced service for Pride with additional late-night trains on Saturday evening. These enhancements are needed to safely transport the huge number of people that travel into Brighton during Pride’s busiest day but also home again after the popular Saturday community parade and Fabuloso fundraiser in Preston Park.

“In normal times, these services are covered by volunteer drivers. The ASLEF overtime ban means that our volunteers cannot take part, and without the additional late-night services there is a clear risk of stranding tens of thousands of people overnight without accommodation. 

“On Saturday evening there is always a massive demand for return travel over a short period of time, with a capacity shortfall of 85,000 across the day including 20,000 passengers in the busiest hours of the evening alone.

“Keeping passengers and colleagues safe is our absolute priority and following discussions with the council, police and emergency services, as well as our own risk assessments, we have sadly concluded that we cannot safely run any services as it would be impossible to avoid severe overcrowding and present a considerable risk to passenger safety.

“In particular, we cannot in good faith bring large numbers of people into Brighton that would not be able to get home again safely.”

You can plan and check your journeys for August 4 and August 6 at nationalrail.co.uk. For further travel advice using other transport modes, please see the Pride website.