FURTHER strikes are to be held in the long-running dispute over guards on trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union on Arriva Rail North (Northern) will walk out for 24 hours on three consecutive Saturdays from October 27.

The workers are already striking on the next few Saturdays, including tomorrow, which will be the 31st day of industrial action since the row started.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT continues to make every effort to get serious and meaningful talks going with Northern but the company are not interested.

"German-owned Northern Rail want to run nearly half a million trains a year without a safety-critical guard on board in a move that would wreck both safety and access to services, and they should listen to their frontline staff and pull back from that plan immediately.

"RMT recently secured an agreement on Greater Anglia that enshrines the guard guarantee. Similar agreements have also been reached in Wales and Scotland. Arriva Rail North need to do the right thing and come to an agreement that secures a guard on their trains too.

"We thank the public for their support and understanding throughout this dispute over rail safety and access and the union remains ready for genuine and serious talks."

Richard Allan, deputy managing director for Northern, said: "RMT's latest announcement will mean that Northern's customers have had to endure strikes every Saturday in September, October and now into November - this is incredibly frustrating and disappointing and is a further blow for our regional economy.

"The RMT changed its mind about what it would discuss between the first and second meetings at Acas, making it impossible to progress.

"We have offered to explore all options, including those RMT has agreed with other train operators, but they refuse to discuss these with Northern for reasons only known to them.

"We urge the RMT to suspend strikes, and get back round the table to talk about the options they agreed to discuss in the first meeting at Acas.

"In the meantime, we will work towards running as many services as possible to minimise disruption for our customers."

Union members on South Western Railway are also taking strike action later this month over the same issue.