From pandemic heroes to underpaid workers, UK bus drivers revolt

Striking bus drivers outside the Arriva North West office on Eastbank Street, Southport [Lorraine Mallinder/Al Jazeera]

Southport, UK – In Southport, an old seaside town in the northwest of England, bus drivers congregated under a bus stop.

They stood and chatted, one fiddled with a Rubik’s cube, and a couple held red flags, now three weeks into an acrimonious standoff with bus operator Arriva North West.