A RAIL operator is urging people to avoid travel by train this bank holiday weekend ahead of strike action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

There will be major disruption to TransPennine Express (TPE) services on both Saturday (April 30) and Sunday - and customers are being urged to travel either side of the weekend instead.

The rail operator will only be running a very small number of services during this time and anyone making an essential journey should plan ahead, check very carefully and allow extra time when travelling as trains will be very busy and changes and cancellations are likely.

Kathryn O’Brien, customer experience director for TPE, said: “With further action by RMT taking this weekend, we are urging customers once again to avoid travel on our services and travel either side of the weekend instead.

“We are saddened and disappointed that this disruption will mean we are unable to get our customers to where they want to be this bank holiday weekend.”

Network Rail will also be carrying out major engineering work across the weekend, including on bank holiday Monday, which will mean fewer trains and some bus replacements will be in place.

Further details can be found on the TPE website.