Four days with no tram service at all as 500,000 Goose Fair visitors hit by strike

A tram passing Goose Fair at The Forest stop in Nottingham this afternoon (Thursday, September 26)
-Credit: (Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)


Goose Fair will be blighted by the prospect of more than 500,000 people cramming into overcrowded public transport after negotiations failed to prevent Nottingham's tram workers from striking over pay. Members of the GMB trade union rejected a pay deal on Thursday, September 26, meaning there will be limited tram services or none at all from midnight on Friday, September 27, until Sunday, October 6 - coinciding with the entire run of the city's annual fair at the Forest Recreation Ground.

The historic and popular fair opens from 4pm during the week and from noon on Saturday and Sunday, but the nearby Forest tram stop will be closed for safety reasons and the irregular service towards Goose Fair will terminate at Wilkinson Street.

On Sunday, September 29, Friday, October 4, Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6, there will be no tram service at all. Colin Whyatt, GMB Regional Organiser, said the union had been working to resolve the dispute and accused tram operator Nottingham Express Transit (NET) of "dragging their feet".

Mr Whyatt said: "It is a great disappointment as we have been committed to resolving this all the way through. From the point of October of last year, I have been saying to NET that we need to get this negotiation well and done before Goose Fair and certainly do not take and hold any blame against the GMB for the company dragging their feet.

"I am more than happy to extend my arms wide open to get back around the table to resolve this." The organiser added the rejected deal would have increased wages by four per cent this year and by the Retail Price Index (RPI) measure of inflation plus one per cent next year.

GMB, whose members make up at least 90 per cent of the tram network's workforce, had wanted a five per cent pay increase this year, along with a RPI plus one per cent rise the year after. The union has said more than 200 workers, including drivers, maintenance teams, ticketing, and security staff, will take part in the walk out.

NET, which had previously said it could not afford to meet the requests of union members, said the 10-day strike would put the very survival of tram network at risk. Sarah Turner, service delivery and safety director at NET, claimed the operator had "done everything in our power" to stop the damaging strikes.

She said: “We are bitterly disappointed by GMB union members’ decision to reject our secondary pay offer, particularly as this is the offer that GMB had recommended following our ongoing discussions. From the outset, GMB has pointedly made the decision to target Goose Fair, deliberately disrupting a much-loved family event that brings so much enjoyment to the people of Nottingham and surrounding areas.

“However, beyond that, the upcoming strike action will have wider implications for the city too. Not only will it mean that many people may not be able to travel into the city, but Nottingham’s tram network marks a vital part of the city’s infrastructure, and the strike action puts its survival at risk.”

Following a challenging period after the pandemic, last year NET completed a financial restructuring of its contract debts which helped to secure the future of the network. However, the upcoming strike action is set to put the financial restructuring agreement at risk, according to NET.

Ms Turner continued: “The blow of being unable to run for these 10-day strikes will undo all of that hard work, with the loss of revenue set to put us back in debt. We’ve always been committed to looking after our staff, which is why we regularly review our salaries and have awarded pay increases totalling over 20 per cent over the last four years, despite the huge financial challenges that Covid brought, when people simply didn’t travel.

"The pay increase that GMB is calling for is simply not financially possible.” GMB previously threatened strike action during the 2023 Goose Fair, before pulling back from industrial action at the 11th hour.

On that occasion, tram bosses initially made a pay offer of a nine per cent increase for the lowest-paid employees and 6.75 per cent for all other members of the team. The deal eventually struck in 2023 saw all employees receive a 10 percent salary increase.