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Bus depot closures to lead to job losses

A bus company wants to shut three North East depots with the loss of 21 jobs as part of cost-saving plans.

Arriva North East has selected depots at Peterlee and Bishop Auckland in County Durham, and Alnwick in Northumberland, for closure.

The firm plans to reduce services to a smaller number of depots and said there would be reductions in engineering and supervisory staff.

The Unite union criticised the plans and said it wants “more clarification”.

Arriva spokesman Ian McInroy said there would be no cuts to services, and that all existing drivers would keep their jobs, but some would work from different depots. He claimed redundancies by employers across the region meant less people were using buses to get to work.

He added: “We’ve got to react to that and be able to cover our costs so that we’re not increasing ticket [prices] for passengers all the time, and we’re trying to make cost savings elsewhere.”

Meetings between the company and Unite have already taken place and more were scheduled, he added.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .