TRANSPORT unions praised the “backbone and determination” of their poorly paid members today as they warned that national rail strikes could continue indefinitely.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, told MPs on the cross-party transport select committee that “we’re further away than when we started.”

When asked, on a scale of one to 10, how close was a resolution to his union’s six-month dispute over falling take-home pay, he said: “I think you can include zero.”