TRAIN services in the North-East and Yorkshire are getting later with commuters suffering more and more delays, new figures reveal.

Punctuality worsened on routes run by two of the region's main train operators, GNER and Northern Spirit, in the period April to June 2000 compared with the same three months last year.

Northern Spirit, which was acquired by Arriva earlier this year, saw the percentage of its trains arriving on time fall from 89.5pc last year to 87.6pc.

GNER's figures fell from 85.9 pc to 84.5 pc.

Virgin, which is competing against GNER for the franchise to run the east coast mainline, saw no change in its west coast service and a two per cent improvement in its cross country service.

A spokesman for GNER described the figures as a blip and said they do not take into accounts improvements made in other months.

He said the company suffered in June because of the floods which disrupted the service and damage to overhead power lines between London and Peterborough.

A Northern Spirit spokesman said: "Following Arriva's acquisition of Northern Spirit there were a number of inherited fundamental issues that had to be addressed.

"Action taken has included the recruitment of more staff, introduction of a rest day working agreement with drivers and improved reliability.