Services affecting the Whitland to Pembroke Dock line were disrupted on Tuesday, with rail travel almost at a standstill the following day until mid-afternoon.

The disruption was a result of a 24-hour strike involving train drivers and driver managers.

This occurred despite an earlier statement to the BBC in which a spokeswoman for Arriva Trains Wales had claimed: "The proposed industrial action by driver managers on Tuesday, September, 16, will not disrupt Arriva Trains Wales services."

Rail travellers on Wednesday morning were in for a long wait and a rambling ride, as trains were replaced with a minibus service.

A member of our production staff, who is a regular rail user, commented that the placement of the village stations in relation to the road network means that this is a long-winded journey, which gets progressively behind the timetable. It is also a fruitless one, since in the absence of reliable information at the stations, potential passengers would usually have given up waiting long before any road transport arrives.

Arriva Trains Wales's website, http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk">www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk , advised rail users not to travel as services were "severely disrupted due to industrial action." More information was available on the National Rail Enquiries website, http://www.nationalrail.co.uk">www.nationalrail.co.uk which stated: "Services between Swansea, Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard Harbour have been cancelled, and are replaced by bus services."

Unfortunately the provision of a minibus was not mentioned by the information system at Pembroke Dock Station. The press-button voice message simply stated that no trains were expected in the next 99 minutes. It was the same message heard on the preceding afternoon at Tenby, when most of the passengers waiting for the Tenby westbound train opted to forego their return tickets and catch the First Cymru 349 'bus service instead.

After a busy and efficient rail service throughout the summer, this week has been a bad one for rail travellers in Pembrokeshire, which started on Monday evening with a train failure causing long delays.

APOLOGIES

"First of all Arriva Trains Wales would like to apologise to customers in Tenby and other parts of West Wales for the disruption to our services this week," said a spokesperson.

"Monday's incident was caused by a train defect and the train was unable to operate for safety reasons.

"Arriva Trains Wales would also like to apologise for the obvious inconvenience on Tuesday and Wednesday caused by the industrial dispute."

DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE

When asked whether there is likely to be further industrial action and service disruption, Arriva Trains Wales said discussions are continuing with senior officials of TSSA to seek a resolution to the dispute.

Arriva Trains Wales human resources director, Dennis Baker, added: "We were extremely disappointed that a number of our train drivers in South Wales and West Wales chose to engage in unofficial industrial action in support of 29 driver managers who had been taking part in an official TSSA 24-hour strike from midday on Tuesday, September 16, until midday on Wednesday."

He further commented that this action was contrary to the policy of the drivers' own union.

CHECK BEFORE YOU TRAVEL

The internet remains the best way of getting up-to-date rail information for this area, and our advice is to 'check before you travel.'

Arriva Trains Wales regularly updates its website, http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk">www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk with service information, which is also available from National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or on http://www.national">www.national rail.co.uk. Arriva also inform Trafficlink bulletins of any service disruption.

Travellers who are forced to use alternative transport during disruption of the rail service are entitled to a refund on production of a ticket. They should contact Arriva Trains Wales customer services on 0845 6061 660