Bus strike suspended after Arriva offers new pay deal

A planned strike by more than 2,000 London bus drivers has been suspended after they were offered a new pay deal.

The Arriva drivers, members of the Unite union, were due to walk out of eight depots across north London in an ongoing strike from 4 October.

Arriva said it would ensure customers and stakeholders were updated on the ballot's outcome.

The offer has not affected planned driver strikes at Kent and Essex depots on Friday and on four days in October.

Responding to news of this strike, Arriva, said it was "extremely disappointed for all our customers to confirm that further industrial action will take place in October across Northfleet, Gillingham, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells".

It said it remained "committed to resolving the industrial action and continues to encourage the Unite trade union to ballot on our pay offer".

The north London drivers had been due to begin continuous strike action on Tuesday, 4 October.

Unite regional officer Steve Stockwell said the strike was suspended "as an act of goodwill" following "intensive negotiations", and before members voted on the new offer, the details of which have yet to be revealed.

A separate strike set for Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire was called off on Monday after Arriva offered drivers pay rises of between 10.4% and 11.1%.

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