There will be further strike action on the railways this month and customers have been warned to expect severe disruption. 

South Western Trains have been notified of a strike by the RMT (Union of Railway, Maritime and Transport Workers).  More than 2,100 union members will be taking part.

The dates for the planned strikes are 13, 14, 16 and 17 December. 

There will be no trains running through Honiton on these days.

Customers have been warned to expect severe delays and to avoid travelling from 13 - 18 December.

There have been a number of strikes this year because the government and the RMT have repeatedly failed to come to an agreement over pay rises and changes to working conditions. 

Previous strikes have taken place in June, July , August, October and November. A planned strike was cancelled in September due to the death of The Queen.

Customers should also expect delays on the 15 and 18 December (the days after the strikes take place) with services starting later and likely to be much busier than usual. 

South Western Railway's Performance and Planning Director, Steve Tyler, said: "We appreciate that customers will be eager to enjoy the festive season, so we're really sorry that we must urge them to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary from Tuesday 13 December to Sunday 18 December. 

"The nationwide strike action means we can only operate a severely reduced timetable from 07:15 to 18:30 only, with much of the network closed entirely. 

"The strike period will be followed by two weeks of further disruption on the network, as the RMT has instructed their members not to book any overtime until 2 January. 

After months of damaging strike action, we are grateful to our customers for their continued cooperation, patience, and understanding as the rail industry works to bring this dispute to an end." 

Read more: 

Honiton: Why are there so many train strikes? | Local News | News | Honiton Nub News