SCOTRAIL has reached a deal with the train drivers union in a dispute over pay.

ASLEF had threatened industrial action unless demands for a pay rise were met, but members will now be asked to vote on a new deal announced last night.

Kevin Lyndsay, the union's director in Scotland, said an offer by Scotrail to raise pay by 4% this year and 3.4% next year had been accepted and would now be put to members.

A ScotRail spokesman said: "It secures the long-term stability for the travelling public as it runs until the end of the current ScotRail franchise."