News -
Go North East Chester-le-Street depot update
UPDATE: We can confirm that the potential industrial action planned from tomorrow (12 August) that may have affected our routes operating from Chester-le-Street depot has now been called off, following the acceptance of our revised colleague offer. All services will now continue to operate as normal.
As has been reported in the local media, our Chester-le-Street depot will sadly be closing from September with all routes relocating to other depots. This follows the recent service changes, adapting to reduced use of bus services in some areas following changes to the way people work, shop and socialise.
The change also helps us manage the impact of rising costs and protects vital local services for customers who rely on public transport, recognising that it’s crucial to continue to offer a bus network that delivers for customers as the cost of driving becomes more expensive.
No driver or workshop engineer redundancies are being made as a result of the depot closure and today we held a constructive meeting with Trade Union officials to agree some changes to the arrangements to support colleagues currently working at the depot. Our colleagues are now being re-balloted by the Union, with a recommendation from them to accept this revised offer.
The ballot is due to close on Thursday morning, and we will provide an update soon after this. It is hoped that the industrial action planned by colleagues at Chester-le-Street depot to start from Friday 12 August can be avoided, however should it still go ahead then services 21, X21, 34, Durham Cathedrals Bus 40/40A, Mount Oswald service 42, High Pittington 204/A and Chester Town Bus 700/1/2/3 may be affected, with a very limited service operating on the main corridors.
All other Go North East services will be unaffected. Please check our website and social media pages for further updates on Thursday lunchtime/afternoon.
