SKIPTON Labour Party members have given their backing to rail guards involved in the long running dispute with Northern.

At the party’s last meeting, members were addressed by Daren Ireland, regional organiser of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Union (RMT)

Mr Ireland outlined the history of the dispute, which recently saw the 45th day of action, explaining that conductors on Northern Rail were not striking for a wage increase, but to maintain safety on the railway.

He said conductors are highly trained in railway rules and regulations and play an important role in the event of an incident. He also talked about other aspects of the conductor’s role, which would be lost if trains were to run with only a driver. He said 85 per cent of conductors provided assistance to passengers with disabilities at least once a day, and without such assistance, it was likely those in wheelchairs would not be able to get on trains.

He went on to say that he believed Northern was under pressure from the Transport secretary, Chris Grayling and was not wanting to hold meaningful negotiations - a situation which could be helped with pressure from travellers.

Northern has called on RMT to suspend its strike action and accept an independent ACAS inquiry.

David Brown, Managing Director at Northern, said: “More than 50 per cent of all rail journeys in the UK are made on driver-controlled trains and recently the Department for Transport and Transport for the North publicly confirmed that a second person – in addition to the driver – would be retained on Northern services.”