Aslef has imposed a nine-day ban on its drivers working overtime and they are staging several strikes affecting different operators, as they demand their first pay rise since 2019.

The latest prevented Northern and TransPennine Express from running any services yesterday. The next will cause disruption for passengers travelling with Greater Anglia, C2C, LNER on Friday.

A source working with Aslef said there “are no negotiations” at the moment and the train operating companies and the government are “nowhere to be seen”.

Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Waterloo station in London

He said no progress has been made since Aslef rejected a 4 per cent pay in April last year, but the union is “open to negotiations”.

Aslef has claimed drivers are being asked to sacrifice working conditions and change their work patterns in exchange for a below-inflation wage increase.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: “The government has been able to facilitate fair and reasonable pay offers for all the unions and all of them, except Aslef, have taken industrial action off the table.

“We're looking for Aslef to now recognise an offer that takes the average pay for a train driver from £60,000 to £65,000 for a four-day 35-hour week is fair in these tough economic circumstances.

“That's going to be funded by the taxpayer. Many of them are also passengers on the railways and don’t tend to earn anything like that.

“We want the union to put it (the pay offer) to their members, so they can decide.”

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, has been attempting to negotiate a new pay deal. But the government ultimately controls how much money can be offered.

The government said operators have already been handed more than £42bn of taxpayer-funded support since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020 and drivers must adapt and respond to rising demand for weekend train travel.

The Aslef source said: “Our members, the train drivers, are not employed by the taxpayer or by the government. They're employed by private companies, which make enormous profits and pay dividends to shareholders abroad.

“Any pay rise will be funded by those private companies, which can well afford it.”

He added: “Our members, the ones who are on strike, have not had an increase in salary for nearly five years and if Mr Merriman is suggesting they don't deserve one, he's clearly living on fantasy island.”

Trains strikes: Passengers warned dispute will drag on as there are 'no negotiations' over a new pay deal