STRIKE action that would have brought the Tyne and Wear Metro to a halt has been averted, transport chiefs have announced.

For months Nexus, which operates the Metro, has been locked in talks with union leaders to try to avoid industrial action.

Nexus says an agreement with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union has now been reached and that the union has withdrawn its plans for industrial action.

The row centred on the RMT's aversion to a year-long pilot project to add conductors to part of the Metro system at night which, it said, would be against the best interests of its members.