Rail services in Britain are set for further disruption after train drivers announced a ban on overtime for the first week of August.
ASLEF union members at 15 train operating companies will refuse to work overtime from Monday 31 July to Saturday 5 August.
The action — part of a long-running dispute — will affect services across 15 train operating companies: 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.
It will be the fourth week-long ban on overtime since May as the drivers seek an improved deal on pay and conditions.
Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, said that the most recent offer “was not designed to be accepted” and accused train companies and the government of being content to let the dispute “drift on and on”.
“We have not heard a word from the employers since then — not a meeting, not a phone call, not a text message, nor an email — for the last 12 weeks, and we haven’t sat down with the government since Friday 6 January.”
Whelan added that drivers want to see a “fair resolution” to the dispute.
The union expects the overtime ban to “seriously disrupt services” because, it said, the train companies do not employ enough drivers and depend on them working on rest days to deliver the services timetabled.
The train drivers’ third week-long ban on overtime was launched on Monday 17 July.
