Frustrated commuters are set to endure further transport misery after the owners of beleaguered Southern railway lost a legal battle to halt a series of strike by train drivers.

Members of the train drivers’ union Aslef will walk out next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (December 13, 14, and 16) and six days in January over in a bitter dispute over driver-only trains.

The union also launched an overtime ban earlier this week.

The strike is set to cripple some of the country’s busiest routes, causing travel chaos for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

From yesterday: Southern launches in-court bid to block drivers' strikes caused by dispute over driver-only trains

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) argued in the High Court that the action would unlawfully restrict freedom of movement provisions under EU law, but judge Sir Michael Burton refused to grant an injunction blocking the strikes.

Southern now faces an escalation of industrial action following months of strikes by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) in a separate dispute over changes to the role of conductors.

The latest RMT stoppages ended last night (Thursday, December 8), with another 48-hour strike due from December 19 and a three-day walkout scheduled from New Year's Eve.

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Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "Southern, Britain's worst private train company, has wasted shareholders, passengers and taxpayers' money - because the company has been handsomely subsidised by the Conservative Government - on a case it was always going to lose.

"Now the company should do the right thing and sit down with us and negotiate to do a deal for the benefit of passengers, staff and the company. Just like ScotRail did with us earlier this year.

"We have always been happy to talk, and we have always believed it is possible to do a deal - as we did with ScotRail -- but it takes two to tango and the company, encouraged by the Department for Transport, has not been prepared to negotiate with us."

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Mr Whelan said driver-only operation (DOO) is "inherently unsafe", adding: "The company, which cares only about profit, not about passengers, knows that there are serious problems with the platform/train interface.

"DOO is old technology, designed in the early 1980s at the fag-end of British Rail when everything was about managed decline.

"We have seen an increase in the number of passengers we are carrying on the railway every day. We now have 1,100 passengers on a 12-car train and two seconds to check 24 sets of doors is simply not adequate to deal, safely and properly, with the travelling public."

A spokesman for Southern said: "Naturally we're disappointed with today's decision. We will now immediately review matters with our legal team."

Passengers on Southern and Gatwick Express were warned to expect "severely reduced" services across much of the network from Friday, through the weekend and on Monday as a result of Aslef's continued overtime ban.

Southern director Alex Foulds said: "Tomorrow is the first day when Aslef's overtime ban will be felt on a non-strike day. We're sincerely sorry but passengers are advised services will be severely reduced and, on some routes, cancelled altogether.

"We will put on rail replacement buses where we can. We urge people to check before they travel on the day."

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