Six MORE months of rail chaos as drivers at five train operators vote to carry on with strikes in row over pay

COMMUTERS face a further SIX months of misery as train drivers at five rail operators voted to continue strike action.

Chiltern, c2c, East Midlands, Northern and TransPennine railways will all be affected, the Aslef union announced.

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Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said the vote came as members rejected a "ridiculous" pay offer by the Rail Delivery group last April.

He added: "Drivers obviously wouldn't vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer. They don't."

Rail minister Huw Merriman previously said the "fair and reasonable" offer would increase the average driver's salary from £60,000 to £65,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week.

Today's announcement means Aslef members can walk out anytime over the next six months.

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Members are re-balloted every six months on whether to continue with industrial action.

The announcement is the latest kick in the teeth for commuters in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

It comes as more than 300 members of the RMT union will down tools from midnight on February 19 for 24 hours.

And there will be walkouts for 24 hours from midnight on March 4.

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Meanwhile train drivers on Northern and LNER are to strike on March 1 and ban overtime for three days in a separate row to the national pay dispute, Aslef announced.

Among workers taking action will be security, station, revenue and control staff.

This month the Sun revealed a married Aslef boss behind the strikes is having an affair with a train driver 19-years his junior.

Dicky Fisher, 62, was snapped snogging Kerry Cassidy, 43, at a Birmingham hotel.

The pair were part of a £12,000 group booking for an Aslef “weekend school” event, paid for by union membership fees.

Fisher has also been racking up £3,000-a-month on mojitos and work trips to Senegal with his all-expenses-paid credit card.

Strikes have rocked Britain's rail network since June 2022.