ONE of the longest disputes in recent railway history was over last night - to the relief of North-East train passengers.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union announced it was reluctantly accepting a four per cent pay offer put to Arriva Trains Northern conductors and calling off a series of strikes.

The move brought to an end a pay dispute which has lasted more than a year and signalled a U-turn on behalf of the RMT, whose officials promised a "bitter and entrenched war" only days ago.

Earlier this week, conductors voted to reject Arriva's four per cent offer, plus a £250 lump sum, by a majority of two to one in the second union ballot since strikes began in January last year.

But support for continued action was down on the first ballot, with hundreds of conductors having chosen to accept the new offer and return to work.

Last night, RMT general secretary Bob Crow said Arriva had been "bankrolled" by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and claimed it had promised to make good any losses incurred in the dispute, removing the firm's incentive to negotiate.

This was denied by the SRA, although it confirmed it had chosen not to levy fines for poor performance on Arriva as a result of disruption caused by strikes.

Mr Crow said: "The very idea of a Government agency openly backing an employer in an industrial dispute is disgraceful, but under the circumstances it would be wrong to ask our members to suffer more financial hardship.

"However, the problems at Arriva Trains Northern, particularly of low pay, have not gone away.

Ray Price, managing director of Arriva Trains Northern, said: "The resolution of this dispute is positive news for our customers, conductors and the business. We now welcome the opportunity to work with our conductors and their representatives to deliver further improvements for our customers."

The dispute began in January 2002 when conductors walked out over an 18 per cent pay rise given by Arriva to its drivers in a bid to end a driver shortage.