THERESA May must intervene to halt Cumbria's rail misery.

That is the view of MP Tim Farron who has this week written to the Prime Minister to urge her to step in to force a settlement of the long-running dispute between the RMT and Northern Rail over driver-only trains has resulted in virtually no service for 14 consecutive Saturdays.

“This industrial action has been going on for months and months and is causing enormous disruption to the lives of local people and those who come to visit our beautiful part of the world," said the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP.

“This chaos is of the Government’s own making and they need to step up and take responsibility.

“Transport for the North, who are themselves a statutory body, don’t even support the Government’s frankly dangerous position on driver-only trains.

“I’ve written to the Prime Minister to ask her when she will get a grip and intervene.”