WORKERS at Northern are to stage a fresh strike in the long-running dispute over the role of guards on trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on Arriva Rail North will strike for 24 hours on Wednesday, May 9.

The announcement was made at a protest in Westminster to mark the second anniversary of the start of the dispute.

Strikes are also to be held on Greater Anglia and South Western Railway services.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "Yet again the intransigence of private rail companies operating in England over the key issue of the guard guarantee means that we have no option but to announce further strike action in the separate disputes on Arriva Rail North, Greater Anglia and South Western Railway.

"With RMT members protesting outside Parliament today we are drawing attention to the ludicrous situation that means we are able to reach agreements in Wales and Scotland on the guard guarantee but not on a raft of key franchises in England.

"If it's good enough for Wales and Scotland to put rail safety first then it should be good enough for the rest of Britain.

"We have long detected the dead hand of the Government interfering to stop us reaching negotiated settlements in the current disputes and it's about time Chris Grayling stopped playing politics with passenger safety and started taking the issue seriously.

"RMT remains available for genuine and meaningful talks in each of these disputes."

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: "We are very disappointed that the RMT has announced a further strike on Wednesday May 9. We'd like to reassure customers that we will be running a full service on this day, using our contingency conductors.

"In recent weeks, we have had some constructive talks with RMT union officials and offered a proposal which we hoped would resolve this issue. Unfortunately, the RMT has rejected it.

"Our position remains the same: We highly value our conductors, we're keeping them on our trains, but we want them to concentrate on customer service rather than opening and closing doors. We will continue to talk to the RMT to try to find an acceptable solution."