Strikes by 500 Stagecoach drivers in Birkenhead, Chorley and Preston have been suspended due to an improved pay offer.

Stagecoach services were due to be hit by strike action from Preston, Chorley and Birkenhead depot drivers next week | .

placeholder image — Stagecoach services were due to be hit by strike action from Preston, Chorley and Birkenhead depot drivers next week | .

Unite, the UK’s leading union, will be balloting the workers on the new offer over the coming days.

Strike action had been scheduled from Monday, September 29 to Sunday, October 5 and from Monday, October 13 to Sunday, October 19 but these will now not take place.

Unite regional officer Michael Woods said: “Following an improved offer from Stagecoach, Unite has suspended strikes in order to ballot our members.”

This comes as welcome news as the strike would have meant that services were “severely disrupted” according to Stagecoach.

Just yesterday, the bus company claimed that union members had rejected a deal that the union itself had backed – and which compares favourably with wages for other driving jobs.

The Unite union says the firm’s drivers in the area are paid £2.13 an hour less than those employed by rival bus operator Arriva.

In a statement issued earlier this month, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham had said: Stagecoach could “absolutely afford to table an offer that tackles the unfair disparities within the region”.

The union described the comp[any as “a highly profitable firm, with figures from last year showing it recorded a total operating profit of £51.1m – up from £33.1m – and a profit before taxation of £47.6m”.