Strikes Commuters braced for chaos on roads as bus drivers walk out

As hundreds of bus drivers prepare for strike action Tristan Cork looks at the likely impact...

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SIX hundred bus drivers at two of the three First Bus depots in Bristol are planning to go on strike this morning - and stay on strike for the rest of the working week, with a warning this will bring the city’s roads to a standstill.

The four-day strike has been called after drivers rejected a revised pay offer from First Bus on Friday.

The bus company’s bosses said on Friday that drivers had rejected their ‘full and final offer; but both sides were yesterday understood to be involved in last-minute talks to avoid the strikes, which will affect almost every bus route in the city.

News of the strike broke on Friday when the results of ballots were announced at the city’s three bases for drivers - Hengrove, Lawrence Hill and the Bristol Bus and Coach Station.

Drivers at two of the three depots have voted to strike. The strike will begin with the first morning shifts today - from around 5am and drivers based at Lawrence Hill and Hengrove depots will refuse to work. Those two depots are the base for the CityLines services - which are effectively every single regular, numbered bus that serves Bristol.

Picket line crossing

Drivers at Hengrove and Lawrence Hill are expected to create picket lines outside each of the depots. This could then have a knock-on effect on the bus services that are running. Even though the bus drivers at the Marlborough Street depot - the bus and coach station - voted on Friday to accept the pay offer, it is not quite as simple as that.

The 400 Unite union members are based there, but the buses they drive are not - their garage is at the Lawrence Hill depot and Marlborough Street drivers may well refuse to cross the picket lines of Unite union colleagues to retrieve their buses.

That's a logistical problem First Bus may well have to solve to ensure the services they said are unaffected remain untouched by the strike.

What will the impact be?