The train drivers’ union ASLEF has called a new 24-hour strike in England on 1 September, with an overtime ban on the following day.

The action has been announced in addition to walkouts by the RMT between tomorrow and early September.

The operators affected are Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.

ASLEF’s general secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12 per cent.

‘The government appears happy to let passengers and businesses suffer in the mistaken belief that they can bully us into submission. They don’t care about passengers or Britain’s railway, but they will not break us.’

The Rail Delivery Group has dubbed the further action ‘unnecessary’. It continued: ‘The union leadership has its head in the sand and refuses to put our fair and reasonable offer to members.’