UNION bosses are seeking urgent talks with Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson in a bid to resolve the driver-only trains dispute with Merseyrail.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union general secretary Mick Cash has written to Mr Anderson to ask for the meeting as a response to intervention by the Mayor into the dispute at the weekend.

This included a written request by Mr Anderson for the RMT to call off the strike set to take place on Grand National day - Saturday 8 April.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said in his letter today that he is calling for an intervention by the Mayor to break the cycle.

The letter says: “…there is an opportunity for both having modern new trains and keeping a guard on the train yet the company have refused point blank to agree to this. It seems that the company position is that the new trains will be paid for by passengers losing their guards and our members losing their jobs while the company lose nothing, instead carrying on making a huge profit - with much of these profits going to Dutch state owned Abellio.

“I would like to know as Mayor or Liverpool what exactly you plan to do to assist in resolving this dispute.

“The people of Liverpool, and our members, will also want to know whether are you going to side with the private operators SERCO and Dutch state owned Abellio, who own Merseyrail, or with the passengers and the unions who wish to keep the guarantee of a guard on their trains.”

Mr Cash said: “Joe Anderson has chosen to wade into our dispute with Merseyrail and that intervention opens up an opportunity for the Mayor to get actively involved in helping us to negotiate a solution.

“RMT stands ready to engage in that process and we now expect the Mayor to use his offices to bring the parties back together and broker a new talks process that homes in on the core issues of safety and finance at the core of this dispute.”