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The threat to tens of thousands of revellers of there being no trains into London over the millennium appeared to have lifted today after a High Court ruling.

Mr Justice Gray ordered the train drivers' union Aslef not to instruct its members on Connex services to refuse to work rest days.

Connex had threatened to pull trains connecting London with Kent and Sussex on Millennium Eve and New Year's Day if the action continued. The ruling means that all drivers rostered to work over Christmas must turn up, and that drivers must give seven days' notice if they are not available to work rest days.

The decision by drivers from Monday to stop working rest days has caused delays for hundreds of thousands of commuters coming into London. Terry Smith, operations manager for Connex in London welcomed today's ruling while stressing that it was dependent on the co-operation of its 400 drivers.

Speaking for Aslef, general secretary Mick Rix attacked Connex for having been prepared to "put the millennium service in jeopardy". He said the union had not opposed the injunction because the court's decision had seemed final.

The ruling should normalise the Connex services, although Aslef has said that frozen points and driver sickness were behind some cancellations this week.

There were up to 30 cancellations on South Central services during last night's rush-hour and 150 cancellations throughout the network. This morning saw five cancellations on South Central routes from Sussex, and there were warnings of delays later.

-- Steve (hartsman@ticon.net), December 23, 1999