STRIKING bus drivers in Fareham - who are paid almost £1.50 an hour less than their Southampton colleagues - have warned of more pickets.

First bus services ground to a halt on Saturday when a 24-hour picket line was set up at the Hoeford depot on Gosport Lane.

About 20,000 people who use the service every day were left stranded as buses stood idle with every single company driver refusing to cross the line.

The strikers are demanding pay parity with their First colleagues in Southampton who receive £7.24 an hour with overtime of £2.10 - while a Fareham driver's basic pay is just £5.84 with no extra for overtime.

They want the hourly rate upped to £7.25 in Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth, an increase of 13 per cent, and are not demanding any overtime payments.

A four per cent offer has been turned down, and unless First meets union demands there will be another 24-hour strike on Friday with the threat of further action.

John Biddle, secretary of the local branch of the Transport and General Workers Union, said: "It's just pennies and shillings. We've got young married drivers with kids who are doing 60-odd hours a week trying to make a living and they can't even get a mortgage. How they cope I don't know. "We just want a rise in basic pay. We're not even asking for overtime like the drivers in Southampton get."

Hugh Kirkbride, the union's regional organiser, said: "Some of the Southampton drivers are coming here to fill shortages. They are doing exactly the same job and being paid a lot more.

"We are happy to meet the company any time. This has got to be resolved."

First bus insist the average 13 per cent pay rise for each driver would mean higher ticket fares for passengers.

A spokeswoman said: "First has reiterated its offer of about four per cent and its willingness to negotiate around that figure, but the trade unions are still holding unrealistic aspirations that First would not be able to meet.

"First has indicated a willingness to meet again at any time and very much regrets the inconvenience the industrial action caused its customers."