'TAKE DEAL NOW TO END RAIL MISERY'

>> MINISTER WALKOUTS COMMUTERS SERVICES FOR GOOD WARNS THAT RISK DRIVING OFF TRAIN

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STRIKING unions were today urged by the rail minister to accept a pay offer and end "counter-productive" walkouts that risk permanently driving passengers away from the railways.

Huw Merriman warned that commuters were "giving up on rail" and called on Aslef and the RMT to accept a "fair and reasonable" offer that would take train driver salaries to about £65,000. In an interview with the Evening Standard, he said the radical option of bypassing collective bargaining and imposing the pay rise - of nine per cent over two years-was something the train firms "may well end up looking at".

His call was backed by commuters, who urged the unions to "do the right thing" and accept the pay deal, saying the strikes were making their lives a misery. There were no services on some of the capital's busiest commuter networks today - including Thameslink, Southern and Southeastern - and no Heathrow Express or Gatwick Express trains as drivers belonging to Aslef went on strike for the ninth time since last July, with 16 rail firms affected.

Avanti West Coast was unable to run any trains on the West Coast Main Line, the "backbone" of the network.

Tomorrow, train and station staff belonging to the RMT will take action across 14 firms. This is not expected to be as disruptive but many services - including parts of the Elizabeth line, the country's busiest railway - will start later and finish earlier.