Students warn Southern Rail strike is affecting their grades

Hundreds of thousands of commuters are once again facing travel misery as staff at Southern Rail begin another series of strikes - with students warning the row is affecting their grades.

Drivers from the ASLEF union are walking out today, tomorrow and on Friday as a bitter dispute over driver-only trains continues.

Southern Rail has also warned its customers to expect "significant disruption and hardship" on Thursday, as trains across its network will be out of place because of the strikes.

The company is urging passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary, and has claimed the "utterly disproportionate" response from the unions is causing extensive damage to the economy.

Among those struggling to get around are students who say the walkout is affecting their attendance and disrupting their education.

Sussex Coast College in Hastings (Frankfurt: 8HG.F - news) has been so badly affected that the principal began hiring buses and drivers to pick up students from surrounding towns and villages.

One student, Callum Macleod, told Sky News that the Southern dispute has had a "huge impact" on his performance, as services are still disrupted on normal days.

He said: "If they're late, I can't get into college and that means I miss lessons which means I'm behind.

"That really did affect me through last year during my A-levels. When it came to revising, I found out that I'd missed certain parts when I hadn't been in lessons."

The college's emergency travel measures involve two buses ferrying students 23 miles from Eastbourne to Rye, and costs £500 every strike day.

By the end of this week, the college will have spent more than £8,500 since October on the transport - and now it wants Southern Rail to pay the money back so it can be spent on education.

Other colleges are now said to be following suit and offering their own transport on strike days, with student grades suffering across the region Southern Rail is meant to serve.

When asked about compensation, Southern Rail told Sky News: "While there is no provision for a consequential claim of this kind, we do occasionally receive claims which we look at on a case by case basis."

The company reiterated its stance that introducing driver-only trains is a vital part of modernisation.

Meanwhile, ASLEF has repeated its claim that the new system will be unsafe and lead to job cuts - but expressed sympathy for affected students.

General secretary Mick Whelan said: "We don't want anybody to miss their education, I spend most of my time arguing in other arenas about how unfair it is to have people saddled with tuition fees. So yes, we are sorry if this is happening."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said there was a desire by Southern staff and passengers for a resolution to the row.

"The one place there doesn't seem to be a desire to solve this is in central government, which has happily handed out the most bizarre franchise there ever was to Southern, who get paid whether they run trains or not," he told Sky News.

"They have provided an appalling service with short trains, large numbers of cancellations, terrible levels of overcrowding and a great deal of inconvenience to the public.

"I think we need a government intervention here to bring that franchise back into the public domain so that the service can be run properly.

"I want there to be a settlement - and a settlement which guarantees the safety of the travelling public on those trains, which recognises the contribution made by all staff, but also recognises the performance of Southern as a company has been very poor indeed."