Tanker drivers serving Jet garages in north-west England due to strike from Monday

A planned strike by tanker drivers serving Jet sites in Scotland and southern England has been called off after their dispute was settled, but drivers in north-west England are still due to take action next week.

Drivers employed by JW Suckling and Hoyer Gas and Petroleum Logistics, who work on the Phillips 66 contract that supplies fuel to Jet Garages, claimed they were being paid £5 an hour less than drivers employed by other hauliers on the same contract and had poorer terms and conditions.

They scheduled strike action to begin on Monday March 27, but last Friday their union, Unite, announced a settlement had been reached with JW Suckling and drivers based at Essex, Grangemouth and west London had cancelled their strike.

However, according to Unite, there has been no resolution of the dispute with Hoyer, and drivers from its Bramhall terminal, near Manchester, will begin a week-long strike on March 27.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is now incumbent on Hoyer to enter into talks and begin paying its workers the same rates as all other tanker drivers on the contract. A failure to do so will result in Jet garages across north-west England swiftly running out of fuel.”

According to the union, the strike action by the Hoyer tanker drivers will affect Jet garages in an area from Staffordshire north to Carlisle.