DRIVERS working for First Capital Connect have voted to accept a revised pay offer worth 5 per cent over two years, but the drivers’ union ASLEF is claiming that the acceptance of the offer does not mean that all its members will now return to working overtime and rest days.

FCC said it planned to restore the full timetable from Monday onwards, but also warned that some cancellations and short formations remained possible.

Problems really surfaced last October, as Thameslink route drivers angry at what they saw as an inadequate pay offer began to decline overtime and rest day working. After several weeks of uncertainty and increasing disruption, a formal emergency timetable was introduced on 13 November. FCC managing director Jim Morgan also left his post at about this time, to be replaced by the head of FirstGroup Rail, Mary Grant.

The emergency timetable was revised on 13 December, but off-peak Thameslink services have remained halved. In the meantime, FCC improved its pay offer, which was approved by the ASLEF executive in December and has now been accepted by two-thirds of the drivers.

Although the pay dispute is over, a spokesman for ASLEF told Railnews that the outlook remained uncertain. He said: “Our members are not obliged to work overtime and rest days, and it remains to be seen how many will want to do so now. The real solution is for the company to continue recruiting the additional drivers it needs.”

Thameslink services have been reduced even further this week, because many of the Class 319 units used on the route suffered frost damage to their traction motors. However, the emergency timetable has been restored today, and services are also now returning to the Wimbledon loop, which has been without trains since last week.

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