Getting train to Liverpool will turn Eurovision from a song to a scream contest

10 May 2023 , 18:35

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Mae Muller is this year's UK entrant (Image: BBC/Harry Carr/Capitol/EMI)

All eyes will be on ­Liverpool this weekend as it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest final.

For those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets it promises to be a truly ­unforgettable night.

But I wonder how many people would have entered the draw had they known the event was going to clash with this week’s train strikes?

Travelling to Liverpool is going to be a huge challenge and Eurovision fans aren’t the only ones set to be affected.

The four upcoming walkouts announced by Aslef and the RMT will impact next month’s FA Cup final at Wembley as well as superstar Beyonce’s highly ­anticipated concerts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

And it’s not just big events that are going to be hit. It’s the smaller stuff as well.

Beyonce concerts are set to be affected by rail strikes (Getty Images for Coachella)

This weekend, my son and his ­classmates are due to play in a team chess tournament in Bristol. They’re all super excited about travelling on a train together and staying overnight. Talk about the ultimate sleepover.

The whole thing has now become a logistical nightmare due to the strikes. If I could I would just pull him out of the contest, but it’s not fair on him or his team who all have practised so hard for this competition.

We can’t drive as we don’t have a car, and I don’t have the energy to explain to my eight year old that we can’t “just take an Uber”.

While I think we’ll just about manage to get there (no doubt the train will be packed and we’ll have to stand the whole way) it’s the return journey that’s looking impossible.

Like many people across the country, my support for workers who want better pay isn’t diminished. Many have had to put up with frozen wages for too long. But surely I’m not alone in thinking how long is this all going to go on for?

In addition to the train workers whose strike dates have been announced, teachers and nurses are said to be considering summer strike action. And as usual it’s the ordinary citizens who are caught in the middle whose everyday lives are disrupted.

Isn’t this enough to make managers and the Government come up with a deal that everyone can live with?

Eva Simpson