SOUTH Western Railway staff are to go on strike on New Year’s Eve in a blow to revellers hoping to travel to London for the annual fireworks extravaganza.

Members of the RMT rail union are set to down tools for 24 hours on Sunday, December 31, in an ongoing dispute over the threat to guards.

It comes after on South Western Railway (SWR) members joined the picket lines for the first time on November 8 and 9 in the long-running dispute over the role of guards and the driver-only operation of trains.

Announcing the latest industrial action, the RMT revealed it had met Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling and the rail minister Paul Maynard to try and resolve all of the current rail safety dispute.-

But as a result of the meeting the RMT claimed there seemed to be ‘contradictory messages, confusion and lack of clarity.’

On the one hand the union said it was told the Government ‘was not opposed to a second person on the train.’

But, according to RMT general secretary Mick Cash: “Within an hour of that meeting I received letter from Chris Grayling asking the union to accept the principle of driver-only operation which as everyone knows reduces accessibility because there is no longer guard to assist older and disabled passengers who need assistance."

Mr Cash added: "There is chaos and confusion in the rail industry surrounding the Government’s position which makes it almost impossible to negotiate.

“It really should be straight forward – the Scottish and Welsh Governments have agreed to keep the guards on our trains so there is no reason why the UK’s cannot as well.”

A South Western Railway spokesman said: “We are extremely disappointed the RMT executive has decided to inflict more disruption on our passengers by calling more unnecessary industrial action, especially when so many people need to travel to be with friends and family for the New Year celebrations.

“We have repeatedly assured the RMT we plan to keep guards on our trains. We will put in place contingency plans to keep passengers moving should this strike go ahead.”