Avanti drivers agree to overtime deal

Train drivers working for Avanti West Coast have brokered an overtime deal that will give them a £600-a-day stipend if they work an extra shift.

Avanti operates the West Coast Main Line between London, Manchester and Glasgow. The drivers will receive the payment on top of their standard four-day week.

The agreement is for the next 12 months and comes just days after Aslef drivers at 16 operating companies announced they would stage a series of rolling one-day strikes in April.

Previously the deal involved a flat £125 payment, with an hourly rate paid on top, which could have totalled between £421 and £495 depending on whether a driver worked an eight or 10-hour shift.

Aslef has accepted the deal, which brings an end to a long-running dispute over overtime.

The train operator has been dogged by service cancellations and disruptions in recent months, so it hopes a return to rest day working on the line will contribute to improvements.

Avanti is also in the process of rolling out new Hitachi trains, which will mean 2,500 training days where drivers will need to be away from passenger services for two weeks. A spokesperson said the overtime agreement would allow the company to deliver this training without impacting services.

The spokesperson said: “We are pleased to reach a new agreement on rest day working, as other operators have done.

“It will help ensure our services are more reliable and resilient over time for our customers, while ensuring we continue training our drivers on our brand-new trains. We’re grateful to partners at Aslef and the DfT for working with us to finalise this agreement.”

In parliament last week, rail minister Huw Merriman said the government would not scrap Avanti’s contract to run the West Coast Main Line, which was renewed last year.

“There are issues that will remain regardless of who the operator is, and it is essential to get underneath the bonnet, look at the issues and fix those rather than what’s on the side of the car,” he said.

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