Eurostar strike vote result due

The result of a ballot for strikes among workers at train firm Eurostar will be announced later today.

Members of the British Rail and Maritime and Transport union at the cross-Channel operator have been voting on whether to take industrial action in a row over pay.

Union officials expect a vote in favour of strikes among the customer service agents and platform staff.

The dispute centres on a claim by the union that workers at the Ashford terminal in Kent earn £4,000 (€5,900) a year less than staff at London’s Waterloo station.

Eurostar said any strike would be “pointless” and insisted that services would not be affected.

An official accused the union of “stirring up trouble” when it was not needed and pointed out that Eurostar had very high staff retention rates.

Only a small number of staff were affected by the dispute, said Eurostar.