RAIL passengers could face another day of disruption this week if a dispute over Sunday working is not resolved.

Train operator London Midland cancelled all but one of its services on Sunday, including seven between Crewe and London Euston that call at Alsager, Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, Stone and Stafford.

The firm was forced to axe the services after staff failed to volunteer to work. Over the summer, staff who volunteered for a Sunday shift were paid double-time as an incentive, but this arrangement came to an end on August 30.

And although London Midland is still offering to pay drivers and conductors at time and two-thirds on Sundays, not enough people put themselves forward – a situation union representatives say could be repeated this weekend.

A spokesman for the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said: "We are entering into talks with the company, but as it stands the voluntary work arrangements remain in place and it's entirely up to our individual members whether they choose to work.

"There is an urgent need for talks with London Midland and RMT remains available for those talks."

London Midland, which is based in Birmingham, operates more than 1,300 services a day to 149 stations.

On Sunday all of its trains were cancelled except those on the Birmingham to Liverpool line.

At Stone station, which is only served by London Midland trains, replacement bus services were put on for passengers heading towards Stoke and Stafford.

Passengers were not too badly affected at Stoke and Crewe stations, as they could use their London Midland tickets on Virgin Trains.

At Kidsgrove and Alsager, East Midlands Trains continued to run its services along the Crewe to Derby line.

London Midland said it would be meeting with union leaders this week to avoid a repeat of the weekend's disruption.

Operations and safety director Andy Thomas said: "London Midland is working with the existing agreements and arrangements which have been in place since the start of the franchise for Sunday working, where staff who work receive the overtime payments they and their unions had previously agreed."

A spokesman for the firm added that double-time payments were only offered to staff who volunteered to work on Sundays from May to the end of August to encourage staff to come forward during the summer months when demand for holidays and time off reduces the number of volunteers.

He added: "London Midland has not changed payments or entitlements at all. Neither RMT nor Aslef indicated to us that they had an issue with the ending of the payments and they were fully aware that the payments would end on August 30."