THE TUC today urged Arriva Trains Northern to resolve its ongoing strike with its conductors.

The union's Northern and Yorkshire regions joined forces to condemn the nine-month strike, claiming it could have been resolved "some time ago".

Ray Price, managing director of ATN, agreed and again implored representatives of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union to join it in arbitration.

But, he insisted, in spite of TUC claims to contrary, that ATN service provision was steadily improving.

The TUC claimed that Arriva's approach to the dispute - "prolonging the action as well as refusing (to allow) conductors to work their rest days" - had resulted in an increase in service cancellations, up to 37.1 per cent.

TUC northern regional secretary, Kevin Rowan, said: "This is a dispute that could be resolved, and should have been resolved some time ago.

"It would seem that Arriva are content to allow services to continue to decline as they maintain their intransigence in these negotiations."

Mr Price said: "We absolutely agree with the Northern, Yorkshire and North West regions of the TUC that this dispute could, and should, have been resolved some time ago.

"We urge the TUC to encourage the RMT to join us for meaningful discussions or to accept our invitation to involve the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Mr Price added that estimates of service cancellations quoted by the union were "completely inaccurate" and said he would welcome the opportunity to discuss the dispute further with the TUC.

Updated: 11:30 Wednesday, October 16, 2002