COMMUTERS face chaos tomorrow as First North Western train drivers go on strike.

All services have been cancelled, stranding passengers who usually use the trains to commute to work in Manchester. The stoppage comes in a dispute between the company's management and union ASLEF over the disciplining of four drivers.

In one case First North Western said it sacked a driver who passed two consecutive red signals and was caught speeding for "significant periods" at nearly 10mph above the maximum line speed limit.

But the union said the sacking is too severe a punishment and it could not reach agreement with the company about what action should have been taken against him and three other drivers who allegedly committed disciplinary offences.

A ballot of more than 600 drivers who work for First North Western two weeks ago voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of strike action.

Further strikes are planned for Thursday and Monday if the issue is not resolved.

A spokesman for ASLEF said: "We are very sorry we have not been able to sort this out but management have not been as co-operative as we would have hoped."

But First North Western bosses said they will not reverse the sacking decision.

"We apologise to all our passengers for the inconvenience caused by this unnecessary strike action, but we have no option but to uphold our decision to dismiss the driver concerned in order to protect the future safe operation of our railways," said a spokesman.

The train company says it will be operating replacement bus services on many routes during the strike action.