WEEKS of damaging one day strikes on the rail services that are East Lancashire's public transport lifeline seem no nearer solution.

Conductors employed by Arriva Trains Northern and drivers of First North Western seem to be no nearer sorting out the separate disputes that have brought our trains to a standstill.

At First North Western the drivers' union ASLEF is angry because a driver was sacked for going through two red lights and speeding.

The Arriva dispute is over pay - conductors and their union want more than the three per cent they have been offered and feel they deserve more because drivers received 18 per cent on April 1.

This is the latest in a history of problems at the company which runs the TransPennine Express service through Preston, Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley.

Last month the operator was fined £2million for poor performance after failing to meet driver recruitment targets with the result that trains were cancelled because there was no one to drive them.

With this backcloth it is no surprise that traveller watchdog groups are furious at the disruption being caused and East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce warns that the dispute must be sorted out before companies already hard hit by a creaking economy are damaged further.

But it is a surprise to hear that the chief executive of Arriva PLC received a £201,000 performance bonus for 2001 as part of his £541,352 earnings.

Yes, the bonus is related to the earnings of the Arriva group which encompasses more than just rail services.

But paying it does show an amazing lack of thought for the feelings of thousands of people whose lives have been disrupted and made unpleasant because of a lack of spending on rolling stock and the people who man it.