Go North East strike: Landlord forced to ferry customers to pub

Glen Sutherland says his pub, The Market Tavern, was losing up to £4,000 per week

A landlord said he is having to pick up and drop off his customers or face losing £4,000 a week because of an indefinite bus strike.

Glen Sutherland, who runs Chester-le-Street's Market Tavern, said there had been a significant fall in trade since 1,300 Go North East workers walked out on 28 October.

He said he still had "bills to pay" and energy costs were "through the roof".

Unite the Union and the bus company will resume pay talks this week.

On Friday the union asked workers to vote on extending the strike action until April at the earliest, unless a deal is reached.

Mr Sutherland has run the pub in the Market Place for ten years. He told BBC Look North: "No passengers means no customers."

Go North East normally run hundreds of buses through Chester-le-Street each day

"I depend on people who all get buses down to the town and I've hardly seen them. I've been hit something rotten since the bus strike."

The landlord said the pub had survived the Covid pandemic but he had "never seen it so bad" and had been forced to take action.

"When I took the pub [over] it was low on income and I built it up. But now it's back to where it was.

"I've got to get some money in. Somebody has got to come through the doors for the sake of a gallon of diesel."

Leslie Hutchinson must walk about three miles (4.9km) to Chester-le-Street if he wants to socialise or visit the supermarket.

The Go North East passenger and Market Tavern customer, from High Handenhold, said it had been "an absolute nightmare".

Leslie Hutchinson had a six-mile round trip on foot from his home in High Handenhold

"I've lived here for 45 years. Never in my life have I seen it like this. The place is like a ghost town. Nobody anywhere, streets are empty.

"Without this [offer of a lift], people would be confined to barracks. They wouldn't be out: a lot of people come down for the company.

"It's a lifeline for them."

• Bus strike 'feels like Covid lockdown again'

Unite the Union, which has brought the action, has accused the bus operator of failing to improve on a previous pay offer.

Regional coordinating officer Suzanne Reid said: "As soon as a realistic, improved offer is forthcoming we will take it to our members.

"We don't want this dispute to linger on and want this resolved as soon as can be for our members and the local communities."

Go North East's business director Ben Maxfield, said the firm was "deeply concerned" and said it wanted to "settle the dispute and get the region's buses back out on the road."