Planned walkouts by around 300 RMT staff on Avanti West Coast which could have seriously disrupted services over the Christmas and New Year holiday have been suspended, after the employers made a new offer.

The strikes by train managers, in a dispute over rest day working, were announced for 22, 23, and 29 December, and Avanti had been planning to publish revised timetables for the first two strike days tomorrow.

The RMT says the new deal includes revised and enhanced rest day working payments, the creation of a rest day working allocation agreement and discussions over a new technology agreement.

The affected staff will now decide whether the revised terms are acceptable, and the union is seeking their views by running a referendum which will close on 17 December.

The RMT emphasised that although the strikes have been suspended while the referendum takes place, its dispute with Avanti West Coast has not yet been resolved.

Avanti West Coast said: ‘We are pleased that the RMT have decided to suspend these strikes which would have caused major disruption to our services and this will come as a relief to our customers who were making travel plans over the Christmas period. We remain open to discussion with the RMT and await the outcome of the referendum where Train Managers can vote on this offer.’