SCOTLAND’S Transport Secretary has dismissed a trade union’s long-running fares campaign – saying it had no role in the suspension of peak fares.
The train drivers’ union Aslef has been campaigning for peak fares – where passengers are charged more to travel at busy times – to be scrapped since 2021.
It began to be trialled by the nationalised ScotRail in October last year and on Thursday First Minister John Swinney said the suspension would be extended for another three months.
Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has denied the extension was related to Aslef’s campaign to have peak fares abolished.
The announcement was welcomed on Twitter/X by former Labour MSP Neil Findlay (above), who said: “Make no mistake this is down to the relentless campaigning of [Aslef Scotland] on this issue.”
READ MORE: Peak-time ScotRail fares scrapped for further three months
Hyslop replied to the tweet: “No it isn’t.”
No it isn’t
— Fiona Hyslop (@FionaHyslop) May 16, 2024
A spokesperson for the union told The National: “Aslef is a campaigning union and the demand to scrap peak fares for the benefit of Scottish rail travellers, and to end this additional tax on workers is something we have campaigned on relentlessly since we published our ‘Vision for Scotland's Railways’.”
The document was first published in 2021.
Transport Scotland declined to comment.
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