Passengers face further delays as a strike by a rail union continues to disrupt services across north-west England and north Wales.

Train drivers belonging to the union Aslef are taking part in a 48-hour stoppage at First North Western (FNW) - for the fourth weekend in a row.

The stoppage over pay began at midnight on Friday and is due to last until midnight on Sunday.

Further weekend strikes are planned until 24 November.

We want parity with the rest of the rail industry on pay

Colin Smith, Aslef

Vernon Barker, FNW's managing director, said the company was doing its utmost to minimise the disruption.

The company was again laying on replacement buses, and was not expecting to run just 30 trains. It nornally runs 1500 every day.

On 4 October the company urged Aslef to ballot its members over its pay offer - a 19% increase over three years - or agree to negotiations at Acas, the arbitration service.

However, Aslef said there were unacceptable strings attached to the offer, one of which involved drivers picking up litter at stations.

Conductor strike

The union's Colin Smith said: "We want parity with the rest of the rail industry on pay.

"And the conditions of the proposed six-month notice to leave employment are still unacceptable."

He added previous arbitration attempts had failed to result in meaningful negotiations.

On Saturday, conductors belonging to the Rail Maritime Union (RMT) staged a 24-hour strike on Arriva Trains Northern (ATN).

It was the union's 20th episode of industrial action since January.

The RMT wants a 10% pay rise for its conductors, but the company has offered only 4%.

Arriva said its offer was better than deals accepted by the union from other train operators, and urged it to go to arbitration.