Commuters turned up to Bolton railway station as the first in a new wave of strikes took place.
Bolton Train Station is closed today after RMT announced more strikes taking place over the busy Christmas period, which started on yesterday (Tuesday).
And people looking to travel into and from Bolton Train Station were shocked to find it closed this morning from 9am.
This left those going to work in a panic as they worked out how else to get to their destinations with no other signs to suggest rail replacement buses were running.
One man was due to travel to Cumbria for his work as a social carer.
He said: “This is affecting me badly because I can’t go to work, I can’t do my job.
“There’s nothing here saying it’s even closed really, and no signs to say what they’re doing for us to get to the places we need to go.
“I think this is poor planning, I didn’t know this at all.”
Another man said he was shocked it was closed as nobody had told him when he had travelled just last week.
He said: “I was here a few days ago and nobody mentioned being closed.
“They didn’t say anything, so this makes no sense to me.
“And now we’re going to check the buses, but you’d think they’d have let us know.
“I understand the strikes though and fair enough the drivers need to do this.”
A poster notifying commuters of the RMT strike was outside the station with the dates December 13 to December 17 and a warning not to travel until after this date.
The strikes follow seven months of turbulence between the RMT and the government as they fail to reach an agreement on the terms of employment train drivers are under.
Drivers seek changes in their pay, employment contracts and job security.
No trains are scheduled from Bolton Station due to the strikes and people are advised to plan ahead with alternative routes.
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Another potential commuter was on her way to Salford University and said: “I didn’t know about this, and I was here almost every day last week.
“Also, this sign doesn’t say it’s closed just that we shouldn’t travel but I don’t know when this went up.”
The strikes will hit the families trying to travel home for the holidays.
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