(10 hours ago)Kuyoyo wrote It's the long-standing Union agreement I understand - agency staff can only be drafted in to Durham County for contract work, hence the recent use of them at Whitby on the Park & Ride work only (until the closure of Redcar - at which point, the amount of drivers that moved from Redcar to Whitby was enough to take the P1/P2 back in-house with).
As for the Union reps, all Union reps at depot-level at almost every Bus company in this area are drivers with shifts that see them on the road for a few hours.
Yeah had a feeling it was a legacy thing, mind they'd probably better wavering it for a few weeks for the interests of the drivers right now, but I get why you wouldn't want to do that aswell as it opens a can of worms for the future.