TRAIN drivers are to stage a series of one-day strikes and a nine-day ban on overtime next month in their long-running dispute over pay.

The Aslef union said the new walkouts will “ratchet up the pressure” on train companies and the government to give drivers their first pay rise in more than four years.

Union members will walk out at EMR and LNER on December 2; at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, and WMT on December 3; at C2C and Greater Anglia on December 5; at Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, the SWR main line and depot, and on the Island Line on December 6; at CrossCountry and GWR on December 7; and at Northern and TPT on December 8.

All Aslef members will refuse to work any overtime from Friday December 1 to Saturday December 9.

Aslef said it had previously called all its members out on strike on the same day but by spreading the action, the ramifications for the rail industry will be “greater.”

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers who have not had an increase since 2019, while the cost of living, in that time, has soared.

“This is a dispute in England made at Westminster by the Tory government.”

Aslef said it had successfully struck pay deals with 14 companies in the last year, including freight firms, Eurostar and passenger companies in Scotland and Wales where transport issues are devolved.

The Department for Transport insisted there is a fair and reasonable pay offer for train drivers on the table that would take their salary up to an average of £65,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week.