The strike continued today<\/a>, Wednesday, although First Bus boss Doug Claringbold claimed more drivers had returned to work compared to the first day of the strike on Tuesday. The members at the two depots – Hengrove<\/a> and Lawrence Hill – were the only two of six First Bus depots in the West of England to refuse to accept the pay rise and structure on offer from First Bus bosses. And the striking drivers said that while they accepted the headline figures in the pay offer, it was the speed at which their wages would rise that was the bone of contention.<\/p>\n First Bus drivers in the West of England receive a basic pay – before overtime and extra pay for working different shifts – of \u00a316 an hour. First Bus has agreed that this should go up to \u00a317 an hour by the end of this financial year – next March – and next year up to \u00a317.40, in 2026. That\u2019s an increase of 4.7% this year and another 4% next year.<\/p>\n But First wants to stagger that increase – with a rise to \u00a316.50 an hour first and then up to \u00a317 an hour next year. Because the dispute has been rumbling on for months since the start of this year, it is actually the pay rise that the drivers should have received from April 1 this year.<\/p>\n So the first pay rise in those steps that the drivers will receive would be backdated to April 1, and it is the size of that first pay step that is the issue.<\/p>\n Drivers at the two depots voted against First\u2019s proposal, and argue that the bulk of the pay rise should be applied from April 1. Union leaders at Lawrence Hill said they estimated the difference in the two positions amounted to \u00a3300,000.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the end of March we\u2019ve been in pay discussions, and it\u2019s been dragging on with dozens and dozens of meetings,\u201d said Nick Rawlings, the union convenor at the two striking depots. \u201cThis dispute is slightly unusual because we\u2019re not talking about the pay rate – we\u2019ve reached an agreement on the pay rate. The bone of contention now is that our back pay is from the first pay day in April, we\u2019re now in the middle of September, and the company are offering us 50 per cent of the value of the rise.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Drivers and bosses apologise to Bristol on day one of bus strike<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol bus strike Day 2 – LIVE updates<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo that is really the only bone of contention at the moment and we\u2019re that close – it\u2019s really frustrating,\u201d he added. \u201cThe 8.7 per cent is divided up into chunks. It\u2019s their money at the end of the day. We\u2019re almost there but not quite.\u201d<\/p>\n Doug Claringbold, the managing director of First, said describing it as \u2018back pay\u2019 was \u2018a bit disingenuous\u2019, but acknowledged that the difference which had prompted the strike was the staggered way the pay rise is being implemented.<\/p>\n Mr Claringbold said the strike was \u2018frustrating\u2019. \u201cExactly the same offer has been accepted at all the other depots, and in fact the union recommended it be accepted at Hengrove and Lawrence Hill, but a small majority of drivers voted against it, so we have a strike,\u201d said Mr Claringbold.<\/p>\n Drivers and Unite\u2019s union leaders have pointed to the profits made by First Bus nationally, but Mr Claringbold told Bristol Live the West of England was still \u2018way short\u2019 of the profit levels a regional bus company of First\u2019s size in the region \u2018should expect to make\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThe drivers have to be realistic about what is sustainable to this business,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve invested millions in improving the buses and the services, and they need to come to the table with some expectations that are sustainable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘We’re not talking about the pay rate, we’ve agreed on that’ 13:44, 17 Sep 2025Updated 14:14, 17 Sep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,10648,748,393,45266,4884,10001,1263,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-431661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-live","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-firstgroup","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-hengrove","15":"tag-transport","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115220786020106134","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_BRI_PG_160925bus_strike-115.jpg\")
First Bus drivers picket outside Lawrence Hill Depot in Bristol this morming, Tuesday 16 September 2025, on a proposed four day strike(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n![\"Doug](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757747185_785_0_GH140121doug1.jpg\")
Doug Claringbold, Managing Director for First West of England(Image: Western Daily Press)<\/p>\n