Transpennine services face cuts and delays as Arriva Trains loses drivers, a senior source has claimed.

Reluctance to work for the rumoured franchise winner Connex and low pay are being blamed for the migration of almost ten per cent of the driving team.

Recruitment by a rival passenger train operating company combined with migration to the freight business is starving Arriva of vital workers, according to the company source.

Just over 60 of the company's 700 drivers have left in the last year, 11 have gone in the last month and another 25 are said to be "on their way".

The migration of workers may lead to more services being cut and bus replacement services being brought in. Arriva drivers earn £24,000 while GNER pay £31,000 and Virgin and freight operators even more.

But with the franchise battle rumoured to be over, and Connex expected to be handed the route by the SRA, some drivers are keen to get out before any changeover.

"It looks like Connex have got it," said one driver, who asked not to be named.

"And I am not planning on hanging around long enough to find out what it is like to work for them."

Disillusioned Arriva train staff have been admitting to passengers that Connex will soon be running their services.

A spokesman for Arriva said: "We have recruited 135 drivers in the last year and further recruitment is taking place. There will always be mobility among the workforce."

A spokesman for Connex, who suffered another near- miss this week after a driver went through a red light, said: "If we were to win the franchise, I can assure Arriva staff they would be working for a rail company in very good order."

The Strategic Rail Authority said today that no decision had been made on the Transpennine franchise.

York-based GNER is one of ten train operators told by rail safety chiefs to take urgent action to improve their performance in the number of signals passed at danger on their lines.

The letters went out as the Health and Safety Executive announced that the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) rose sharply last month.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, June 29, 2001