A HIGH COURT injunction sought by East Midlands Trains against the RMT union has been refused by the judge, but peace talks between the two sides are due to restart this week.

EMT had claimed that the union was encouraging its members to go beyond the terms of a work to rule and restrictions on overtime in a dispute over the effects of the Nottingham resignalling blockade, but the RMT had alleged that the company was trying to 'impose new working conditions and to unilaterally rip up procedures and agreements by the company under the pretext of the Nottingham blockade'.

The union's general secretary Bob Crow said: "It's a shame that East Midlands Trains have wasted time and money dragging RMT into court under the cloak of the anti-union laws when they should have been sitting round the table resolving this dispute which is all about treating RMT members on this franchise with dignity and respect in light of the planned engineering works around Nottingham."

East Midlands Trains responded: “Our passengers will be disappointed by today's decision at the High Court.

"Our priority in taking this serious step to commence legal action was to try to protect our customers from unnecessary disruption by the RMT and we continue to believe the union is encouraging its members to take unlawful strike action. We shall be considering our further options.

"While there is no substance to the claims made by the union, we have always remained open to discussions with the RMT and we are pleased that the union has now agreed to talks this week.

“Our focus remains on delivering the best possible service to customers during the Nottingham re-signalling works. We would urge the RMT to end its unnecessary action and work constructively with us to achieve that."