North Herefordshire MP Sir Bill Wiggin today (June 22) raised the plight of rail strike-affected local students with the Prime Minister.

Sir Bill asked during Prime Minister’s Questions this lunchtime: “Hereford Sixth Form College has over 600 students who rely on the trains to get them to their exams this week.

“What can my right honourable friend do to ensure these young people doing their GCSEs and A-levels are not punished by the train strikers?”

Boris Johnson replied: “I know how much my right honourable friend cares for students in his constituency. I can tell him that no exams have been cancelled as a result of the strike so far.

“We expect schools and colleges to have contingency arrangements in place to manage disruption.

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“If students arrive late then schools should allow them to take the paper, and exam boards will determine if that paper can be marked based on how late the student is.

“I’m told that if the student misses the exam completely, the school can apply for their grades to be calculated based on other assessments they have completed in that subject.”

The college's principal Peter Cooper said: “It is a challenging week for students, many of whom are sitting exams for the first time after two years of Covid disruptions.

“We pride ourselves on developing life skills and resilience, and we hope students employ these as well as they can to overcome the travel adversities they face.”

Last week he told the BBC that transport workers union the RMT's strike decision showed “callous selfishness”, and that unions “were created to avoid the exploitation of vulnerable people”.