Southern offers drivers £75,000 in last-ditch bid to settle dispute

The £75,000-a-year London train driver was announced today as Southern Rail offered massive pay rises to try to end the 14-month-old dispute.

GTR, Southern’s parent company, offered its 1,000 drivers a pay increase of 23.8 per cent over four years — taking basic salaries for the existing 35-hour, four-day week from £49,001 to £60,683. It is an extra £12,000 per driver to try to settle the dispute involving driver only operation (DOO) and changes to the role of the guard.

Most drivers work a regular fifth day as overtime for an additional 25 per cent pay, taking fourth-year salaries above £75,000. Southern relies on this to run its full timetable for more than 300,000 passengers a day.

Aslef, the train drivers’ union, has yet to accept the deal. Peace talks broke up in acrimony with the union ordering a resumption of its indefinite overtime ban from June 29.

This will cause daily late running and cancellation to hundreds of services.

Aslef is furious Southern combined pay deal negotiations with those concerning the dispute — it robustly denies a company accusation that it asked for pay to be included. Aslef chief Mick Whelan said he could “categorically state” the firm is lying.

A GTR spokesman said it had made a “very generous” pay offer and the threat of a new overtime ban is “both surprising and extremely disappointing”.

RAIL chiefs today warned soaring temperatures and the threat of rails buckling in the heat could cause speed restrictions and delays to journeys home tonight and over the weekend.