BUS drivers and garage staff at a North-East depot have voted to start a series of strikes in a protest over pay.

The move, which involves 80 staff at the Bishop Auckland depot of Go-Northern, in County Durham, is likely to cause major problems for passengers in surrounding rural areas.

The firm's services out of Bishop Auckland vary from longer distance hourly runs to Newcastle, to shorter journeys to Teesdale, all of which will be affected by the weekly one-day strikes, which start this Friday.

They will continue until further notice, say union officials.

The action was decided by an overwhelming majority and will include 61 drivers and 19 garage workers.

Negotiations have been ongoing since November.

Driver Ray Brown has worked for the firm since it took over OK Travel, his previous employers, five years ago, and he believes the Bishop Auckland depot has never been given a chance.

Now, he claims, its employees are much worse off in terms of pay than those at the more profitable Peterlee and Gateshead depots.

The latest pay rise offer was three per cent, said Mr Brown, an official with the Transport and General Workers' Union.

"We wanted 3.8 per cent," he said.

"We've never had a decent pay rise since Go-Northern took over. It's always been two per cent."

No one at Go-Northern was available to comment yesterday.