TRAIN drivers are to stage a fourth week-long overtime ban next month over pay, their union Aslef announced today.

The union warned that the action, from July 31 to August 5, will “seriously disrupt services” because profiteering operators refuse to employ enough drivers to fulfil timetables.

Operators have been accused by the union of exploiting an overtime agreement, intended to provide training for new drivers, using it instead to maintain timetabled services.

The new overtime ban follows three previous week-long bans in May and July, the third of which began today.

Companies affected are 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 and West Midlands Trains.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We don’t want to take this action. We don’t want people to be inconvenienced. 

“But the blame lies with the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, who 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 per cent.”

He accused the employers of making a proposal which was designed to be rejected because it attacked hard-won working conditions, and that the union had heard nothing from the employers since April 26, or from the government since January 6.

The Rail Delivery Group said the “fair and affordable offer” would take average driver base salaries for a four-day week without overtime from £60,000 to nearly £65,000 by the end of 2023.