Dan Norris, the West of England metro mayor, said the Government’s attempt to entice bus drivers to switch careers to become lorry operators would compound the chronic shortage of drivers.

He told the Guardian: “The Government has written to HGV drivers, which include many bus drivers, offering lucrative careers in haulage, which hasn’t helped. We need government action to solve the bus driver crisis – not sticking plaster solutions.”

Tom Bartošák-Harlow, a spokesman for the the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (CPT), a trade body that represents bus operators, told The Telegraph: “There are going to be bus drivers who are leaving to go and work in the HGV sector and we can’t deny that that is the case.

“If anyone is going to leave the bus and coach sector to go and drive HGVs it may well be that they are being incentivised by salaries.”

However Mr Bartošák-Harlow stressed that Brexit and the pandemic were the main reasons for the exodus of bus drivers. 

Strikes called off

The demands from unions come after a series of planned bus worker strikes involving members of the The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) were aborted on Sunday.

Members of the RMT employed by Stagecoach in the South West had been due to walk out on Monday.

Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said when announcing the planned action last week that bus workers were “leaving in droves” from the industry over low pay.

However the planned strikes were suspended following last-ditch talks. 

A spokesman for the RMT said: “Strike action on Stagecoach South West tomorrow has been suspended to allow members to have their say on a revised offer received from the company in last-ditch talks today.”

Mike Watson, managing director of Stagecoach South West, said: “We have had constructive discussions with RMT today and as a result the strike action planned for Monday has been called off.

“We are pleased to have put together positive pay packages for our people that are supported by the union.”

Strike actions had also been planned in Wales, where Stagecoach bus drivers are paid as little as £9.25 per hour, after the company rejected demands for £10.50 as “unaffordable”. 

A Stagecoach spokesman said it was continuing to operate 97 per cent of services and had attracted 6,000 applicants for new bus driver roles.

He said: “Like other companies in the transport and logistics sector, a small proportion of our services have been affected by factors out of our control, including the pandemic, Brexit, and the backlog at the DVLA in processing licences.

He added: “We continue to have good relationships with our trade unions at a local level and are going through the regular process of negotiations where pay reviews are due.”

While the RMT’s strike action has been avoided for now, Unite is planning a walkout for the first week of November in many of Stagecoach’s other franchises in Scotland, Wales, north Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, and Kent. It will also include the company’s north-east services after a vote last week overwhelmingly backed strike action.

Other firms such as Arriva North West are also understood to be facing possible strikes.