Trains heading to England from Glasgow and Edinburgh face disruption after the train drivers' union announced a new overtime ban.

The union is in dispute with 15 train companies, including Avanti West Coast which operates services from Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central to London Euston, over pay.

Ordinarily drivers work voluntary overtime to ensure that services can run, but they will refuse to do so from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 August.

Services have previously been disrupted by four week-long overtime bans, as well as 11 strike days.

The Herald: Members of the train drivers union ASLEF pictured on the picket line at Glasgow Central Station today, Wednesday. ASLEF members were taking part in strike action in an ongoing dispute over pay...Photograph by Colin Mearns.5 October 2022.

ASLEF members voted 96.34% in favour of strike action on Avanti West Coast in June, with 97.56% backing action short of a strike.

Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, said: "We don’t want to take this action – because we don’t want people to be inconvenienced – but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.

Read More: Avanti West Coast gets contract despite 'worst performing' record

"The proposal they made on Wednesday 26 April – of 4% with a further rise dependent, in a naked land grab, on drivers giving up terms & conditions for which we have fought, and negotiated, for years – was not designed to be rejected.

"We have not heard a word from the employers since then – we haven’t had a meeting, or a phone call, a text message, nor an email – for the three months, and we haven’t sat down with the government since Friday 6 January. That shows how little the companies and the government care about passengers and staff. They are happy to let this go on and on.

"But we are determined to get a proper increase – a fair pay rise – for men and women who haven’t had one for four years while inflation has been roaring away. Our members, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy back in 2019."

Avanti West Coast is 70% owned by First Group and 30% by Trenitalia, a subsidiary of Italy's state-owned railway.

The company said: "Though we plan to run our normal timetable, we recommend you check before you travel, as the impact will vary from route to route, and your entire journey across multiple train operators may be affected."