RMT's Mick Cash 'to meet Chris Grayling' on Southern dispute

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said he had written to the transport secretary

The RMT rail union has said it will "take up an offer of direct talks with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling" to solve the Southern guards dispute.

The Department for Transport said Mr Grayling "reiterated his offer of talks to RMT and Aslef union leaders".

He was "happy to discuss with them" but asked them both "to suspend their action as a show of good faith".

But it said ASLEF refused and there was no indication from the RMT that it would call off the strike.

The unions plan six more days of walkouts by drivers on 10, 11 and 13 January and a week later on 24, 25 and 27 January.

Aslef represents nearly 1,000 Southern drivers, while the RMT has 12 among its members, who will also take part in the stoppages.

'A universe apart'

Aslef has dismissed a "formal offer" from Southern and said the two sides were a "universe apart".

Southern's parent company GTR said the offer included better cab CCTV, an "indemnity package" for operational incidents and no further driver-only-operation (DOO).

The unions argue the extension of DOO services, where drivers rather than guards open and close carriage doors, is unsafe.

Aslef general secretary Michael Whelan said DOO was being imposed.

"We are not in the same universe. There has been no real move to address the fundamental issues," he said.

Aslef claims CCTV screens in some drivers' cabs provide a poor view of platforms

The industry regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), has repeated its view that DOO is a "safe method" of dispatching trains, providing "suitable equipment, procedures and competent staff" are in place.

In a review of Southern, the ORR recommends "further improvements, including ensuring CCTV image quality is consistently high".

Southern introduced DOO to the Brighton main line and four other routes last October and it was extended on 1 January to six further routes including Redhill - Tonbridge, London - East Grinstead and Brighton/Haywards Heath - Eastbourne/Ore.

Southern said drivers now controlled doors on "just over 70%" of Southern services and there were no plans for more.

What's the Southern Rail strike about?

How bad have Southern rail services got?

The politics behind the Southern rail dispute

There will be no Southern services during next week's three-day strike