SINCE late January our customers have had to suffer a series of strikes which the RMT has taken in pursuit of an unrealistic pay demand.

We have offered a three per cent basic increase plus five per cent productivity - a package based on the same principle agreed with our train drivers. The RMT has not accepted this offer (Letters, April 5). Subsequently, we have sought to explore other options with the RMT including using the services of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, all of which the RMT have rejected.

Our conductors' pay rates are very competitive compared with other train operating companies. We have no shortage of conductors.

Following recruitment it takes eight weeks to train a conductor compared with 12 months to train a driver.

Arriva Trains Northern is a subsidised business, which relies on taxpayers' money. This has to be taken into account when considering any pay deals, along with the impact on future investment in the rail industry and on other public services generally.

When we took Arriva Trains Northern over from the MTL Group, it was seriously under-funded, critically under-staffed and had insufficient trains. The original owners, when they won the franchise in 1997, planned to reduce the number of employees by 40 per cent. We have been working to reverse the trend and since February 2000 Arriva Trains Northern has increased the total number of employees by more than 600 people.

It is frustrating that at a time when the actions we have taken to deal with the inherited problems are beginning to deliver benefits for our customers, we are suffering from strike action in support of unrealistic pay demands.

Euan Cameron,

Managing Director,

Arriva Trains Ltd,

Princes Square, Leeds.

Updated: 10:44 Monday, April 15, 2002