BUS drivers look like adding to the woes of commuters in East Lancashire with the promise of a four-day strike, starting from Friday.

The plan to hold the strike from Friday could cause chaos in East Lancashire with petrol supplies at most service stations and garages completely exhausted.

But the deadlock in the long running dispute between the Transport and General Workers Union and Stagecoach may be broken with the appointment of a new managing director.

Managing Director Michael Chambers has left the company but Stagecoach Ribble are refusing to say whether his departure is connected to the dispute which has been running since January.

Union officials are meeting with the new managing director Nigel Barrett tomorrow to try and resolve the dispute.

Bus drivers have held a series of stoppages amid claims they are paid less than colleagues who work for the company in other parts of the country. They have already been offered an increase of 10 pence per hour but the drivers want an extra 17 pence on top of the existing offer.

A series of one day strikes have already badly affected the area but the industrial action is now being stepped up.

Transport and General Workers Union spokesman Peter Brindle said: "We are planning further strikes but there are talks planned for this week.

"Michael Chambers has left the company and we will be meeting the new man so maybe there could be a change in the position of the company.

"All our members feel very strongly over the issue of pay and we will be holding further strikes if there is no change in the position over pay."

Stagecoach Ribble operations manager Chris Bowles said: "Mr Chambers has left the company and he will be replaced by Nigel Barrett.

"Further meetings are to take place between the two sides, but Ribble maintains that it cannot improve on the pay offer already made.

"We would like to apologise to all our customers for the disruption to services. Depending on the number of drivers reporting for work, the company expects to operate a limited network of services."

People wanting further information should contact the Lancashire Traveline on 0870 6082608 or the Stagecoach Ribble on 01772 254754 between 8am and 8pm each day.