Train drivers are to stage a series of weekend pay strikes disrupting delegates travelling to Labour's annual conference in Blackpool.

Drivers' union Aslef said its members would walk out every weekend from 28 September to 23 November in an escalation of a long-running dispute.

The stoppage on First North Western (FNW) services will take place on the weekend the conference begins.

Drivers have already staged a number of weekday 48-hour strikes huge disruption to commuters and other travellers.

'Hands tied'

On Thursday Aslef's general secretary Mick Rix said: "We have decided to set weekend strike dates in order to minimise disruption to commuters and to let the public know exactly what service may be expected."

The union's executive also decided on Thursday drivers would stop all rest day working from the end of this month.

Mr Rix will now write to Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) chairman Richard Bowker seeking an urgent meeting to try to resolve the dispute.

He said there was no chance of the dispute being settled while First North Western (FNW) had its "hands tied" by the SRA over what it could offer.

'Strings attached'

The dispute centres around a 19% FNW pay offer to drivers over three years, which the company said was "beyond the dreams" of many workers.

Aslef claims the company is trying to attach unacceptable "strings" to the offer.

Many conference delegates plan to fly to Manchester airport and catch a FNW train to Blackpool, partly because of disruption from London Euston station because of weekend engineering work.