Arriva Trains Northern was expected to run about a third of its usual 1,600 services because of a 48-hour walkout by members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union. Managers were called in to cover for some strikers and longer trains were laid on, but this was not enough to alleviate travel chaos in the north.
The AA warned that roads in northern England were likely to be busier than normal during the morning rush hour as travellers took to their cars.
Union members said they expected local members of the RMT to press later today for further strike action in the latest round of a long-running pay dispute. The RMT assistant general secretary, Bob Crow, said that the workers' resolve was as strong as ever, and added that RMT members had put pressure on the union's leaders to call further action. He said that guards and conductors were angry that their salaries had fallen behind those of train drivers, whose pay had increased sharply since privatisation of the rail network.
The managing director of Arriva Trains, Euan Cameron, said the strike was "unreasonable". The union had originally wanted a 42% pay rise to take conductors' wages up to £22,000 but that figure had now fallen to £18,000, or an increase of 15%, Mr Cameron said. He said that an offer from the company to raise the basic pay of conductors from £15,500 to £16,760 was "fair". Mr Cameron said on BBC radio: "We are in discussions, therefore why do we need to disrupt our passengers by having this dispute?"
