BUS passengers will be forced to seek alternative means of transport this Friday as thousands of drivers look set to strike over pay.

The sight of picketing bus drivers will be all too familiar to passengers in Uxbridge town centre, with two strikes recently taking place in the last two months.

This time it is members of Transdev Sovereign, which operates buses from depots in Uxbridge and Hayes, who are planning industrial action.

They have also planned more strike action for Wednesday 22 October.

Altogether, 2,500 workers from the Unite union have agreed to take action, in protest at unequal levels of pay compared to other drivers across London.

One of the routes affected will be the busy 222 bus which runs from Uxbridge bus station in Bakers Road, through Cowley, Yiewsley, West Drayton and Heathrow.

Peter Kavanagh, Unite senior regional organiser, said: "There is a startling disparity between bus drivers pay in the capital, with rosters in some companies seeing many drivers' complete nearly 60 hours per week.

"Not only is this unsafe, it is unfair to have bus workers across London doing the same job for less money or having to put in much longer hours.

"Our members will continue to strike and we will continue to ballot further bus companies until Boris Johnson listens up and engages in serious discussions for equal pay for all London bus workers."