BUS drivers are being paid nearly £5,000 a year less than colleagues working for the same company five miles away, their union has claimed.

Drivers employed by First Manchester at Rusholme depot are reportedly earning as much as £95-a-week less than those working out of Queen’s Road depot, which lies on the other side of the city centre.

Workers are planning five 24-hour walkouts between now and the end of November in a call for pay parity. They have already taken three days of strike action.