THE country's rail network had been thrown into disarray by the National Union of Railwaymen's (NUR) work-to-rule on June 24, 1968.

The union, which rejected a last minute pay and productivity offer by British Rail (BR) on the Saturday, began its work to rule and ban on overtime at midnight. Frustrated passengers were left stranded at railway stations overnight as services were cancelled.

The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) is expected to join the dispute, which would inevitably cause further cancellations and delays. The chaos was expected to become worse as the week progressed as more than 20 per cent of railway work is carried out in overtime.

Barbara Castle, Secretary for Employment and Productivity, has made it clear the Government would not intervene in this latest dispute.

Contingency plans were being drawn up to ensure all essential supplies and services are maintained.

BR put forward a last minute deal which would have seen all but a handful of workers receiving a three per cent pay increase. But to meet the £8.5m cost of this increase BR required the unions to allow cleaning work and some porters' duties to be contracted out.

The NUR rejected the offer by 20 votes to three and was maintaining its demand of a nine per cent pay increase for all 300,000 of its members.

Leonard Neal, BR board member for industrial relations, warned the go-slow would have "grave consequences to the industry, travelling public and railwaymen."