Rail passengers face fresh disruption as Aslef train drivers refuse to work overtime

Rail passengers face fresh disruption this week as train drivers stage a week-long overtime ban in a dispute over pay.

Members of the Aslef union at 15 train companies in England will refuse to work overtime from Monday 31 August to Saturday 5 August. This action will be followed by another overtime ban the following week, running from Monday 7 August to Saturday 12 August.

The union said its members involved in the dispute have not had a pay rise for four years and warned the ban will seriously disrupt services, adding that none of the train companies employ enough drivers.

The ban on overtime will affect the following train services:

• Avanti West Coast
• Chiltern Railways
• Cross Country
• East Midlands Railway
• Greater Anglia
• Great Western Railway
• GTR Great Northern Thameslink
• Island Line
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• Southern/Gatwick Express
• South Western Railway main line
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains

The overtime ban follows strikes last week by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) that crippled services, with only around half the number of trains running in some parts of the country.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We don’t want to take this action, because we don’t want people to be inconvenienced, but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.”

Mr Whelan said an offer made in April was for a 4% pay increase, with a further rise dependent on drivers giving up terms and conditions, but he claimed no meetings have been held with employers since.

He explained: “We have not heard a word from the employers since then – we haven’t had a meeting, or a phone call, a text message, nor an email – for the three months, and we haven’t sat down with the government since January 6.

“That shows how little the companies and the government care about passengers and staff. They are happy to let this go on and on. We are determined to get a proper increase for men and women who haven’t had one for four years while inflation has been roaring away.

“Our members, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy back in 2019.”

TransPennine Express warned customers to prepare for disruption this week, including delays and short-notice cancellations. Customer service and operations director Kathryn O’Brien said: “We are disappointed that this action will have such an impact on our customers’ journeys.

“We are anticipating significant disruption to our services for the next two weeks and I’m asking all our customers to be prepared for delays and cancellations across the network. We expect the disruption to be widespread and I would advise customers to check very carefully before they travel and to allow extra time for any journeys.“

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “The government has met the rail unions, listened to them and facilitated improved offers on pay and reform. The union leaders should put these fair and reasonable offers to their members so this dispute can be resolved.”