FOR the first time in the firm’s history some of Addison Lee’s drivers will strike today over pay and conditions.

Over 90 per cent drivers working for the London-based private hire company at Luton airport voted in favour of action following bosses’ unwillingness to negotiate.

After the firm put up its commission, the average hourly wage for drivers working 70 hours a week has fallen to £4.72.

Independent Workers Union of Great Britain branch secretary Yaseen Aslam said that on International Workers’ Day the drivers want to send a message to Luton’s Labour councillors to stop letting companies “drive citizens into abject poverty.”

“While we are not surprised that Addison Lee’s vulture-capitalist owners would try and draw every last ounce of blood from Luton’s drivers, we are shocked that a Labour council is so happy to sit by and do nothing,” Mr Aslam said.

Driver Imran Iqbal said the drivers owe it to their families and each other to “keep on fighting until Addison Lee delivers a fair deal.”

Striking drivers will protest outside Luton Town Hall from 10am before forming a picket line at the airport.