Train drivers to strike over pay

Midland Mainline staff are walking out for three days

Midland Mainline drivers say they will hold 24-hour strikes over pay from noon on the next three Fridays.

Aslef union's acting general secretary Keith Norman said the employers have brought about the action through an "increasingly inflexible attitude".

The Derby-based firm runs services from London St Pancras to Sheffield, via Beds, Northants, and the East Midlands.

The firm said it was disappointed at the action that will hit services going into the May Day bank holiday weekend.

Emma Knight from Midland Mainline, said: "It is a disappointment. On behalf of our customers, we are so angry that our drivers have chosen to take this action.

"A 4.5% pay offer is generous and well above inflation. We are being asked constantly by the government to control costs, and we cannot be giving out the inflation-busting pay rise which Aslef is asking for.

The action will affect services from noon on Friday until noon on Saturday for the next three weekends.

The union said the action was timed to have the least effect on business and school travellers.

'Earlier commitments'

Mr Norman said: "The employers have precipitated this strike action by their increasingly inflexible attitude.

"Whether this arises from within the company or derives from the parent company ­ National Express ­ is less important than the fact that the employers have been retreating from earlier commitments."

Passengers with other rail firms owned by National Express, including Central Trains and Silverlink, have faced disruption because of action by staff in recent months.

Earlier this month Aslef called off industrial action in a separate dispute with Network Rail over safety.

Midland Mainline runs services through Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering and Wellingborough and has travel centres at Nottingham and St Pancras.