GREATER Anglia is advising people to avoid travelling on its trains on Thursday August 18 and Saturday August 20 due to rail strikes.

People travelling to major events over the weekend are advised to make other travel arrangements.

These may include West Ham’s Europa Conference League qualifying match against Viborg on Thursday, Coldplay at Wembley Stadium and the All Points East festival at Victoria Park on Saturday, plus football fixtures on Saturday including Tottenham Hotspur v Wolves.

Train drivers' union Aslef has been calling for a pay rise for its members, with Greater Anglia saying they are working hard to end the disputes.

Greater Anglia, including Stansted Express, will run a heavily reduced service with first trains from 7.30am and all last trains finishing their journeys between 6pm and 6.30pm.

First train times will be later than usual on Friday August 19 and Sunday August 21, as a knock-on effect of the 24-hour strikes.

Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles said: “We’re very sorry that once again we must advise people to avoid travelling on our trains, but we can only operate a very limited service – with a later start time and last trains running much earlier than normal.”

Timetables for Thursday’s strike are available on Greater Anglia’s website, with Saturday published later in the week.

No more strike dates have been announced, although there is a strike affecting London Underground on Friday August 19.

For more information, visit greateranglia.co.uk/strikes.