Watford commuters are being hit hard by strikes on the Southern rail line from Milton Keynes to Clapham this week, with no service on the line at all, and unfortunately four more strikes are planned through to December.

We will face another next week, with two more in November and one planned for December.

I have looked at the deal offered by Southern to the RMT to resolve the dispute and I think by any reasonable person’s standard it is a fair one, with job guarantees, offers of a bonus and high safety standards.

READ MORE: Rail passengers will soon be able to claim compensation for trains that are more than 15 minutes late

My only conclusion after looking at the deal and then receiving the news about five strikes being planned is that this must be a political decision by the RMT. I urge the RMT to call off these strikes.

As part of the Government’s commitment to getting a better deal for passengers, the time limit at which you can apply for a partial refund for delays is planned to be reduced from 30 minutes to 15 on Southern routes. In future, this will apply to all lines. The Government has also promised £20m to get services moving again.

I used my last column to speak about transport issues too. I don’t want to seem obsessed by trains but as we are a commuter town, I know it is necessarily an obsession those of us who just want to get into work!

So, for variety, I also want to let you know about two other things I am doing at the moment, completely unrelated to the trains.

The first is my (sorry for bringing this up in October!) Christmas card competition, open to all primary school children to help me design my 2016 Christmas Card, which will be sent to around 2,000 local people.

The theme is Watford and Parliament.

The second is my 2016 Parliamentary inter-school debating competition for secondary school students in November.

This is held in Parliament in front of a panel of esteemed judges from the House of Lords and the world of journalism. To find out how to get involved please visit my website.