A RAIL union general secretary has accused Northern bosses for ‘glossing over’ serious problems in the wake of last year’s timetable chaos.

Manuel Cortes, from white-collar TSSA, made his attack after the train company’s regional director Chris Jackson told the Greater Manchester Transport Committee that its service levels have stabilised.

He suggested Northern was ‘slowly rebuilding’ the trust of passengers.

Mr Cortes said: “What a cheek! Who do Northern think they are kidding with this spin over substance? The public will not be taken in for a minute by this naked attempt at glossing over the terrible service passengers continue to endure daily.

“I suppose that running train services which are better than bloody awful is an improvement of sorts."

A Northern spokesperson said: “Our performance has been steadily improving over the past 12 months as we have worked hard to bring stability and reliability to our services. We know there is more to do"