TRAIN drivers on LNER announced 22 days of strike action today over allegations of bullying, broken agreements and a breakdown in industrial relations, in another legacy of Tory turmoil.

Members of drivers’ union Aslef will strike every Saturday from August 31 to November 10, bringing weekend disruption to the rail network’s East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh.

LNER is an operator of last resort (OLR), appointed by the then-Tory government after private operator Virgin faced financial collapse in 2018.

But the privateer’s failed management team was left in charge.

In a hard-hitting statement, Aslef accused LNER of being the most “toxic” of Britain’s rail operators.

It paid managers thousands of pounds in bonuses to scab during the union’s national strikes, the union said. 

LNER was also the only operator to attempt to implement the failed strike-breaking minimum services legislation against train drivers.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the LNER drivers had been forced to launch strike action by a “continued failure of the company to resolve long-standing industrial relations issues.”

“We would much rather not be here,” he said. “When we make an agreement, we stick to it. This company doesn’t. And we are not prepared to put up with their boorish behaviour and bullying tactics.”

Nigel Roebuck, Aslef’s lead negotiator with LNER, said the company “badgered” its drivers to work on rest days because it did not employ enough drivers to fulfil its timetables.

He said that when badgering failed, managers resorted to bullying.

Mr Roebuck also accused the company of paying thousands of pounds in “bounties” to managers to plug gaps in timetables and to scab during the national strike action over pay. 

The strike action at LNER comes after Aslef has suspended a national pay strike as 13,000 drivers at 16 affected operators vote on new pay proposals from the Labour government’s Department for Transport.

Labour Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has denied as “unfair” Tory suggestions that the government’s proposed settlements with the train drivers and junior doctors would lead to calls from other public-sector workers for 15 per cent pay increases.

He said the government was “sticking to the promises we made in opposition” in its deals with public-sector workers.

An LNER spokesperson said: “We will continue to work with Aslef to find a way to end this long-running dispute, which only damages the rail industry.”