Self Employed Rights

Caractacus

This isn't a consumer rights issue, but my issue fits here slightly better than anywhere else.

So I'm a self employed worker who today went to work, only I couldn't get there because when I arrived at the train station there was a strike on. I was unable to get to my destination and lost three hours of work with scheduled classes, losing a total of £60 in earnings.

Because of my recent medical history, I simply can't afford to lose that money. I am considering invoicing the RMT. There appears to have been no notice in advance for this strike which is their fault. If I had known of it in advance I could have worked around it, but I didn't.

Can anyone offer any advice here? Legally am I able to invoice the Union and is it a good idea to take on a Union? Again because of my medical issues I have no strength for a fight or spare money to fight it in court.

Thanks for any help.

JJ_Egan

Of course you can invoice the union but they are under no obligation to pay anything .
Any legal action against the union would cost you a lot of time and a lot money .
Both the Southern and Merseyside strikes have been well publicised .

wealdroam

Who did you have a contract with?
Was it the RMT or the train operating company?

Did you even have a contract?
Had you bought a ticket before you discovered there wasn't a train?

Undervalued

Unless the strike was unlawful (which I doubt) I can't see that you have any claim against the union. You have no contract with them.

If you just turned up at the station intending to buy a ticket you have no contract with the train company either.

Whether you can't afford to lose £60 (for medical or any other reason) or are the richest man in the country is completely irrelevant I'm afraid.

agrinnall

Are you saying that this was on a route other than one of those where the strikes have been very well publicised? If so, which route was it? It won't make any difference to the outcome as other posts have advised but I'd be interested to know if there are strikes going on that we don't know about (although I have a suspicion that it is one of the strikes that is publicised and somehow you had missed all of that publicity).