TRAIN drivers on Avanti West Coast are to be balloted for strikes in a dispute over pay, their union announced yesterday.

Aslef members will vote on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action affecting services on the West Coast Main Line in the coming weeks.

The union’s general secretary Dave Calfe said: “The company’s failure to make a suitable pay offer for 2026 is not acceptable. That’s why we are balloting our members for strike action and for action short of a strike.”

Aslef’s organiser in Scotland Kevin Lindsay said: “We believed we had reached agreement with the company but they told us they had to get approval from the Department for Transport (DfT) and that has not been forthcoming.”

Avanti West Coast said that it is disappointed with Aslef’s decision to ballot its members.

A DfT spokesman said: “The department has not been sighted on any proposed pay agreement.”