West Midlands National Express bus drivers vote to accept 16.2% pay deal

The strike, affecting services across the West Midlands, started on Monday

Striking bus drivers in the West Midlands have voted in favour of accepting a 16.2% pay deal.

Services across hundreds of routes have been disrupted by the indefinite action by members of the Unite union since it began on Monday.

The strike was set to end from Sunday reducing bus services on the day, said National Express West Midlands.

The firm said it would operate services "as close to normal as possible" on Monday.

The walkout followed a pay row between the company and members of the union.

The bus firm, which normally carries 600,000 passengers a day across Birmingham, the Black Country, Coventry and into parts of Worcestershire, apologised for the significant disruption and inconvenience.

"We are pleased to be able to put this behind us and focus on delivering a bus service that customers can rely on," it said in a statement.

Unite said action by the workers had resulted in an "inflation beating" pay rise of 16.2%.

The union would "leave no stone unturned to defend workers' pay", said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

More than 200 National Express engineers voted last week to accept a separate pay deal.

The bus company had also guaranteed to implement new terms and conditions, a key sticking point in the dispute, said the union.