BUS drivers picketed outside their depot as they staged two 24-hour strikes in a row over pay.

First bus drivers brandished placards and chanted outside the depot in Rochdale Road, Bury, as they refused to work on Friday and Monday from 4am.

Only school buses were running on both days.

Passing car drivers beeped their horns and gave the thumbs-up symbol in support despite the disruption to commuters and shoppers.

Drivers are furious that they have not been awarded a pay rise this year despite the company making £134 million profits last year.

Further 24-hour strikes are planned for Monday and also September 28, and bosses at the union, Unite, say they will not stand down until drivers are offered a pay rise.

Bobby Morton, Unite’s regional industrial organiser, said: “We hope that it will make the company come to its senses and offer us a wage increase, which the bosses are currently failing to do.

“Whoever made this decision, it is either based on greed or mismanagement. It’s crazy.”

The company’s Bury staff have been joined on strike by workers at First depots in Bolton and Wigan.

A spokesman for the company said drivers had been offered a two per cent pay rise next year, brought forward by three months, but the union had rejected the offer.

He added: “We have to be realistic about what we can deliver, and funding a larger pay award for drivers in this environment is simply not possible.”