South Yorkshire bus strike set to take place on same day as popular Sheffield gin festival

Bus drivers in Sheffield will strike on Saturday, June 29 and Monday, July 1; impacting services in Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and across South Yorkshire. 

A total of 900 drivers are involved after rejecting the ‘insulting’offer of a one year pay freeze, the drivers’ union Unite has said.

Workers voted by 69 per cent for strike action and by 79 per cent for industrial action short of a strike.

The strike will mean that services run by the company in Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham, as well as part of the Derbyshire Dales will ‘grind to halt’, according to Unite.

Gin Fever is set to take place between Friday, June 28 to Sunday, June 30 at Kelham Island Museum. 

More than 350 people have registered as attending on Facebook with another 2,700 interested.

The bus strike could cause travel headaches for some customers on the Saturday, with all bus services to Kelham Island set to be cancelled.

The  7, 8, 8a, 35, 57, 61, 62, 81, 82, 85 and 86 bus all serve Kelham Island.

On the date of the Kelham Island gin festival, Stagecoach services 7 and 86 still serve the Kelham Island area

Despite the buses being cancelled, Kelham Island is just a short walk from the Shalemoor tram stop, which is served by both the yellow and blue routes.

First Soutn Yorkshire Ltd said it was disappointed that Unite union announced its members were striking and said an increase in drivers wages could result in higher bus fares for customers.