The rail provider which runs trains in East Lancashire has said no services will run in the area on a strike day this week. 

Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) members have voted to stage three one-day strikes across different train companies from Friday, April 5 to Monday, April 8. 

Drivers with Northern, which runs services through Lancashire, will strike on Saturday, April 6, with no services across the company's entire network on the day. 

Workers with TransPennine Express will also be on strike on the day, and Avanti West Coast drivers will be off on Friday, April 5. 

There will also be overtime bans from April 4 to April 9, excluding Sunday, April 7. 

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We are disappointed that ASLEF has chosen to call yet more strike action and we would encourage them to work with the rail industry so we can put an end to this dispute.

“We can only apologise to customers in the meantime for the significant disruption and inconvenience this action by ASLEF will cause.” 

The action comes following a series of strikes stretching back 20 months. 

In a recent statement, ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: “In February, when we announced renewed mandates for industrial action, because under the Tories’ draconian anti-union laws we have to ballot our members every six months, we called on the train companies, and the government, to come to the table for meaningful talks to negotiate a new pay deal for train drivers who have not had an increase in salary since 2019. 

“Our members voted overwhelmingly – yet again – for strike action.

“Those votes show a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) which knew that offer would be rejected because a land grab for all the terms and conditions we have negotiated over the years would never be accepted by our members. 

“Since then train drivers have voted, time and again, to take action in pursuit of a pay rise."

He added: “We asked Mr Harper, or his deputy, the rail minister Huw Merriman, to come and meet us. We asked the Rail Delivery Group and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) to come and talk to us. 

“We haven’t heard from Mr Harper, Mr Merriman, the RDG, or the TOCs since those new mandates were announced four weeks ago." 

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “Nobody wins when industrial action impacts people’s lives and livelihoods, and we will work hard to minimise any disruption to our passengers. 

“We want to resolve this dispute, but the ASLEF leadership need to recognise that hard-pressed taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running post-Covid.

“We continue to seek an agreement with the ASLEF leadership and remain open to talks to find a solution to this dispute.”