Pictured: union boss behind Southern Rail strike chaos being whisked to work by car

Mick Whelan more regularly rides to work on trains where drivers open and close the doors - the very system he condemns as too unsafe for Southern passengers
Mick Whelan was driven to Paddington station by his wife in a Nissan Juke hatchback
Jeremy Selwyn

Here is the union boss bringing strike chaos to London - sitting pretty as he is whisked to work by car.

But the Evening Standard can reveal that Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan more regularly rides to his office on trains where drivers open and close the doors - the very system he condemns as too unsafe for long-suffering Southern passengers.

Moreover, figures released under Freedom of Information rules show a fall in dangerous incidents since driver-only operated trains were introduced on key lines of London Overground, the network that Mr Whelan himself cheerfully uses to get about the capital.

The disclosures cast new question marks today over Aslef’s highly controversial claim that safety fears over driver-only operated (DOO) trains are truly behind the Southern strikes that will halt services for 300,000 people next week and cause road gridlock and delays for many others.

Yesterday, the independent rail safety watchdog gave a seal of approval to Southern’s driver-only operated (DOO) services as safe for both passengers and rail staff.

With the hardline RMT union currently planning a Tube strike on Sunday night and all-day Monday, the capital faces a week of havoc unless the two unions call off the actions.

Business groups estimated the cost to the capital of tens of millions of pounds.

Thousands of passengers have protested on social media they will lose pay and family time.

Mr Whelan rode to town yesterday in the passenger seat of his silver Nissan Juke hatchback.

Asked if he was enjoying a relatively smooth commute compared with strike-hit passengers, he said: “I do not even drive. I support the public transport system which we want to make greener.

“I do not have a chauffeur driven car, far from it. I use the same overcrowded trains as everyone else.”

Mr Whelan left his £500,000 north west London home in a suburban Wembley close at 6.40am to be driven to Paddington Station by his wife.

The union leader told the Standard he normally went into London by London Overground - which, ironically, means he is a regular user of driver-only operated trains.

He told the Standard: “My usual journey is from Wembley Central on the overground train to Euston.”

However he continued to insist the strikes were about safety “None of this is due to money. It is about safety,” he said.

The one-time bank clerk who became a train driver, added: ”I have driven driver-only operated trains and have 31 years experience. That’s why I know what I am talking about.”

But official figures released by Transport for London reveal the number of dangerous and scary incidents on the network Mr Whelan uses actually fell sharply after driver-only operations were introduced.

They gave details of the number of incidents in the year before DOO services and the year after on two key lines that, like Mr Whelan’s own train, pass through Willesden Junction.

They show the number of “signals passed at danger” incidents fell from 12 to seven. The number of times that the emergency braking system, called Train Protection & Warning System, was used fell from 30 to 23.

The number of times the doors on the wrong side were opened fell from 32 to 16. Incidents where doors were released when the train was not fully in the station fell from five to zero.

Station over-runs caused by driver error went down from 13 to seven. Speeding reduced from one incident to zero.

The only category that increased - from three cases to five - were incidents where drivers went through a station without stopping.

When this was put to Aslef, Mr Whelan continued to insist that DOO trains were unsafe.

He replied: “As I travel all over the country for my role, and use public transport every day, I can personally attest to the platform interface issues, and societal behaviours, that our members are concerned over.

“The lone working concerns that are not being addressed or the security issues in this post-Paris and Brussels world.

"It does offend the union and its members to be castigated for honouring existing agreements, whilst hoping to change them, whilst not accepting imposed unsafe working practices on GTR Southern.”

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