THE bus industry is the latest sector to face chronic staff shortages as poor pay and conditions force workers out, the RMT warned yesterday.

The transport union said that the staff exodus would have dire consequences for essential local services.

Its stark warning comes as a recruitment crisis in the NHS and social care continues and as a shortfall of 100,000 lorry drivers leaves gaps on supermarket shelves.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “For years bus workers have been underpaid and undervalued and the exodus of staff from the industry was a crisis that has been coming.

“We now risk a serious escalation in transport poverty, with those without cars in areas where buses are the only option left cut adrift.

“This is a scandal that has been cooked up by the toxic combination of bus deregulation and private-sector greed.

“The solution is a planned bus network, publicly controlled, which values both the staff and the vital services they provide.”