THE Health and Safety Executive is to be asked to investigate alleged breaches of safety at Arriva Trains Northern.

The Rail Maritime and Transport workers union said it had written to the agency to complain that managers were being used to do trained conductors' jobs as a result of strike action.

Regional organiser Stan Herschel repeated claims that Arriva had shelved regular safety briefings because of a lack of staff on some days.

He said: "There is something seriously wrong if a company is so blinded by its determination to starve our people back to work that it is prepared to abandon safety standards.

"Our members and the public are being put at risk and there is an urgent need to ensure that the rules are followed."

ATN managing director Ray Price has previously described claims the company was compromising on safety as "absolute nonsense".