Train drivers employed by LNER are poised to vote on whether to launch strike action, escalating a long-running dispute over pay.
Members of the Aslef union at the state-run rail company, which operates services along the East Coast main line, will be balloted in the coming weeks on a campaign of industrial action.
The potential strikes could impact routes connecting London King’s Cross with Leeds, York, Durham, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Edinburgh Waverley.
Aslef stated that despite nine months of intensive talks leading to a three-year productivity deal, LNER informed them it did not have the mandate to negotiate the proposed package.
General secretary Dave Calfe said: “The company’s failure to make a suitable offer is unacceptable and that’s why we are balloting our members for industrial action.”
Nigel Roebuck, Aslef’s organiser in the north east of England, said: “After nine months of talks, and after agreeing a package that benefits both our members and LNER, being told that third-party interference in the collective bargaining process has blocked the way forward is beyond disappointing.
“The company’s passenger timetable is, yet again, dependent on goodwill and favours and endless overtime. Have they learnt nothing from recent history?
“The timetable introduced in December 2025 had insufficient resources from day one.”
An LNER spokesperson said: “We are continuing to meet with Aslef colleagues as we work together to try to reach an agreement.”
In 2024, Aslef previously threatened three months' worth of weekend strikes after the union claimed there had been a breakdown in industrial relations.
The deal agreed between the government and Aslef chiefs in August 2024, which the union’s members will now vote on, is for increases of 5 per cent for 2022 to 2023, 4.75 per cent for 2023 to 2024, and 4.5 per cent for 2024 to 2025.
It raised the average train driver’s salary from £60,000 to £69,000.
Elsewhere in the UK, a planned three-day strike by workers on Merseyrail has been called off after an improved pay offer was made.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) were due to walk out from Saturday. The union said it will now consider the offer.
