BUS company Arriva managed to run just a quarter of its services in the region on Monday as the strike action continued.

Drivers are striking for a week in a dispute over pay, affecting services in Darlington, Teesside, County Durham and parts of North Yorkshire.

The company said it managed to run almost a quarter of services after drafting in staff from elsewhere in the company.

Some drivers who were not taking part in industrial action also crossed the picket lines to provide services.

All journeys on remaining Arriva services are being provided free of charge to passengers.

Maria Bainbridge, a member of the Arriva Management Team, who was driving buses yesterday, said: “We’re just trying to keep the show on the road as best we can during this difficult week.

"We managed to get a number of people to work and to school and minimise the disruption to their normal schedules.”

She advised passengers to check Arriva’s social media accounts regularly to see which services were running.

Arriva said all staff redeployed to drive the buses were fully licensed to do so.

Drivers voted in favour of strike action as they believe they are the second-lowest paid Arriva drivers in the whole of the UK. But Arriva claims its latest pay offer would have made them among the best-paid bus drivers in the region.