NATIONALISED ScotRail is facing months of chaos, after the train drivers union rejected ScotRail's 'final' 4.2% pay offer.

The national executive committee of the train drivers union ASLEF has rejected ScotRail's pay offer to its members. Last week's talks between the union and ScotRail ended with a pay offer of 4.2% - a rise from an initial 2.2% - in the wake of major cuts to services as a result of the pay dispute.

But today Aslef's executive committee rejected the offer and the union will now proceed to a ballot for industrial action if ScotRail refuse to engage in further talks.

Aslef Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."

Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland said it was "disappointed" that Aslef decided to reject "the very good offer on the table".

It comes a day after Scotland's transport minister Jenny Gilruth said she was "hopeful" a new pay offer will resolve the dispute.

The dispute has resulted in train drivers refusing to work on rest days or on Sundays and has triggered a wave of cancellations on top of a new emergency timetable which has seen a third of services scrapped since May 23.

Questions had remained over whether train staff, especially drivers, would accept the 4.2% pay offer - as at least one union aspired to have pay rises closer to a rate of inflation of 8.2%.

The Herald:

Union leaders had not made any recommendations of acceptance or rejection to members.

As part of the deal, ScotRail  made a commitment to make changes to ensure there was a seven-day rather than the current six-day working pattern within five years.

It had offered to bring Sundays into the working week with full implementation "expected" by the 2027 December timetable.

But union sources feaed that that is because it would require massive investment and a huge recruitment campaign to get enough drivers, conductors, ticket examiners and other staff.

The Herald on Sunday revealed concern that state-controlled ScotRail’s current plans to bring in 130 new train drivers will not end a staff shortage which has led to rail chaos.

On Tuesday, Scottish Conservatives' transport spokesman Graham Simpson was critical after Ms Gilruth was unable to declare any contingency plans if Aslef rejected the pay offer and continued the dispute.

Passengers spoke of a “shambles” on Sunday when over 400 services were affected by the driver shortages as ScotRail were unable to put in place a temporary timetable in time.

And on another chaotic ScotRail day on Monday, while the temporary weekday timetable  was expected to remain in place for the Scotland v Ukraine World Cup clash on Wednesday, extra late trains were found at the 11th hour.

The changes came hot on the heels of a chaotic Saturday, when again late night train services were laid on at the 11th hour in some areas hours after a new driver shortage timetable released on Friday had axed them.

The late train to some areas had disappeared in many areas - with final trips setting out up to four hours earlier before any night outs would have barely begun.

Ms Gilruth on Tuesday dismissed fears that ScotRail chaos caused by a shortage of train drivers could last weeks, even if there was Aslef agreement, while saying the emergency timetable has been delivering a "reliable service".

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We are disappointed that ASLEF, having given due consideration to the terms they negotiated, have decided to reject the very good offer on the table, an offer which is in part self-funded through increased revenue and efficiencies.

"While we understand any unions desire to obtain the best deal possible for their members, the stark realities of the financial pressures we are facing across Government are evidenced by the Spending Review published just yesterday.

“We all need to work together to make nationalisation a success. Ministers are committed to ensuring that the railway unions are part of that success.

"However, to be part of the vision moving forward, the unions’ need to agree on a deal that is both fair and affordable, particularly in the context of wider public sector pay policy.

"While, regrettably, this decision appears to mean further disruption for passengers in the immediate term given there is no indication that drivers will return to previous Rest Day Working and overtime arrangements, we would encourage all parties concerned to get back round the table to resume negotiations.”