Nottingham Tram Strike: No Trams 26, 27 Sept and 2, 3 Oct

There will be no trams at all on four of the next ten days, and West Bridgford loses its link into the city on each of them. Nottingham Express Transit has confirmed that a pay dispute with the GMB union means it will run no service on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September, and Friday 2 and Saturday 3 October.

That covers the whole of Line 2, so the four stops on this side of the Trent go dark: Wilford Lane, Wilford Village, Compton Acres and Ruddington Lane. The park and ride at Clifton South is at the far end of the same line.

NET says it considered running a reduced service and decided against it. Its own answer is blunt. “Whilst some staff may not be joining the strike, we’ve made the difficult decision to stop all tram services as this is the safest thing to do.” (NET customer support, updated 22 September)

Day by day

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Between the two walkouts, from 28 September to 1 October, staff are taking what NET calls “action short of strike”. They may refuse or cancel overtime. NET warns of “the potential for further impacts on tram services during the week”, so the “possible delays” line in that table is doing real work.

Sunday 27 September is the day to plan around

The second strike day is also Robin Hood Half Marathon day. That gives West Bridgford two separate problems on the same morning, from two different causes, and nobody is joining them up for you.

• No trams, anywhere on the network, all day
• Trent Bridge closed in both directions from 9.20am to 10.20am for the race
• Loughborough Road northbound lane closed from 6am to 4.20pm, with no access to Trent Bridge from that lane
• London Road closed from the BBC Island to Trent Bridge, both ways, 9.20am to 10.20am

So the tram is out, and the two obvious road routes into Nottingham are restricted for an hour in the middle of the morning. Our full closure table, taken from the race organiser’s own traffic management timings, is on the Robin Hood Half road closures page.

If you need to be in the city centre on Sunday morning, the realistic options are to walk over Trent Bridge or Wilford Suspension Bridge, or to travel well before 9.20am.

Goose Fair, and why the dates fall where they do

The strike brackets Goose Fair, which runs from Friday 25 September to Sunday 4 October at the Forest Recreation Ground. (Visit Nottinghamshire) The Forest tram stop is the normal way in, and the two strike weekends are the fair’s two busiest.

On the four days in between, 28 September to 1 October, NET is running a heavier timetable than usual for the fair:

• 06:00 to 07:00, trams from every 15 minutes
• 07:00 to 10:00, trams from every 8 minutes
• 10:00 to 15:00, trams from every 10 minutes
• 15:00 to 23:00, trams from every 8 minutes
• 23:00 to midnight, trams from every 15 minutes

Tickets, passes and refunds

This is the part that will catch people out, and NET’s position is clear on all three points.

• Buses will not accept tram tickets during the strike.
• Season passes will not be extended to cover the lost days.
• There is no automatic partial refund on a season pass. NET says holders can claim a refund in line with its normal refund policy instead.
• Weekly and one-month tickets fall outside those terms, but NET says it will calculate a refund minus the time already used. The contacts it gives are info@thetram.net and WhatsApp on 0115 824 6060.

On park and ride, the rule flips depending on the day. On strike days you may park and travel on by other means. On every other day, parking at a park and ride site without using the tram can get your vehicle clamped.

What the dispute is about

NET says pay talks with GMB have run since January. It made what it calls its final improved offer on 19 June 2026: a 3.3% increase, 7% for the lowest paid roles, and further improvements for night workers. It says GMB rejected that and is asking for 4.1%.

Sarah Turner, managing director of NET, said the decision to strike “will bring the whole city to a standstill, and targets a popular annual event that’s really important for Nottingham.” She said the union’s claim is “financially untenable and way above current inflation levels”, and that NET has increased pay by 29.8% over six years. (NET, 18 September)

Those figures are NET’s account of the negotiation. GMB’s own news pages carry no statement on the 2026 dispute. The most recent Nottingham tram entries there date from 2023 and 2024, and relate to earlier disputes. So we have not been able to put the union’s side of this one from a first-party source. We will add it if GMB publishes one.

What it means for you

• Four days with no tram: 26, 27 September and 2, 3 October. Not a reduced service, none at all.
• Sunday 27 September is the worst of them in West Bridgford, because the Robin Hood Half closes Trent Bridge for an hour on the same morning.
• Check before you travel on 28 September to 1 October. Trams run to all stops, but the overtime ban makes cancellations more likely than usual.
• If you hold a weekly or monthly ticket, contact NET. A refund is possible, but only if you ask for it.
• Driving instead? Both the parking rules and the charges differ either side of the river. See parking in West Bridgford.

Live service information is on NET’s own service status page. Our roadworks and travel page covers the closures and signals in place across the borough this fortnight.

Related

• Robin Hood Half Marathon road closures, 27 September
• West Bridgford roadworks and travel
• Parking in West Bridgford
• West Bridgford train times to London

Sources

• Tram Strike: Industrial action, 26th September to 3rd October 2026, NET customer support, updated 22 September 2026
• NET responds to GMB’s plans to target Goose Fair for upcoming strike action, NET, 18 September 2026
• NET service status, NET
• Goose Fair 2026, Visit Nottinghamshire