Train services between London and the South West will be severely disrupted by industrial action this Sunday (December 3).

The train drivers’ union ASLEF is taking strike action over pay between Friday, December 1 and Saturday 9.

Great Western Railway is warning travellers that on Sunday there will be no trains between London Paddington and Bristol, South Wales and Exeter/Plymouth. 

Where GWR can run trains, a very limited service will operate and they are likely to be very busy.

Trains will also start later and finish earlier, and customers are advised to check the time of last trains. Bus replacement services are unable to operate. 

The strike action on Sunday will affect people travelling to and from Bath for the Christmas Market or the crunch Premiership Rugby match between Bath and Exeter Chiefs. Services will be extremely busy, and there will be significant queues to board trains home. GWR is advising travellers to use alternative transport to these events.

Tickets for Saturday 2 December to Friday 8 December can be used the day before or up to and including Tuesday 12 December.  

Other train operators are also affected by this action, so onward travel will also be affected. A limited service on Sunday will run only on the following routes between: 

•    London Paddington towards Didcot 
•    Oxford and Worcestershire 
•    London branch lines 
•    Reading and Basingstoke 
•    Reading and Newbury/Bedwyn  
•    Westbury and Swindon 
•    Cheltenham/Gloucester and Swindon 
•    Cardiff and Portsmouth 
•    Cardiff and Exeter St Davids via Weston-Super-Mare 
•    Bristol and Gloucester/Cheltenham/Worcester 
•    Bristol and Westbury/Weymouth 
•    Plymouth and Penzance 
•    Plymouth and Exeter 
•    Devon and Cornwall branch lines. 

Customers are advised to travel before the weekend or after Sunday. If you intend to travel where trains are running, please check before you travel as they will be busy and are likely to be disrupted. 

Due to planned engineering work the Night Riviera Sleeper service is cancelled, and Guildford to Gatwick services are cancelled (buses replace trains between Reading and Guildford). 

Also on Sunday, December 3, South West Trains services between London Waterloo and Exeter St David's will be extremely busy due not only to the ASLEF union overtime ban but also because of engineering work between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction.  Services are being diverted via Westbury, with rail replacement buses running between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction until Sunday 10 December.

Aslef strike action will also affect GWR and CrossCountry rail services on Thursday 7 December. Services on other days between December 1 and 9 could also be hit by short-notice alterations and cancellations, especially at weekends or late at night. 

A rolling programme of strike action by the union affecting other rail operators is also due to take place between these dates. 

On 7 December, a reduced and revised timetable will operate across several train operators, including GWR. Many parts of the GWR network will have no service at all and trains that are running will only be operating for a limited period during the day. 

On the days after strikes, services could also be affected by a limited number of short-notice cancellations and alterations. 

Customers who purchased tickets but do not travel can claim a full refund or amend their ticket. Those who travel and are delayed may be entitled to Delay Repay compensation if they are delayed by 15 minutes or more. 

Season-ticket holders can apply for compensation through the Delay Repay scheme. GWR’s Refund policy remains in place. If you hold a return ticket, you can claim a refund of your unused full fare, even if only one leg of your journey is affected.