Haringey Bus Strike Called Off, Drivers Vote on Offer

The bus strike that was booked for yesterday did not happen, and the seven strike days still in the diary now depend on a ballot.

Unite postponed the walkout on Tuesday 1 September, three days before it was due, after Arriva North London put an improved offer on the table. The union said the offer “deals with the issues raised by Unite members” and would go out to ballot “over the coming days”.

Transport for London’s bus status carried no strike warning when we checked it yesterday morning and none this morning. The 41, the N41, the W3 and the 102, the four Arriva routes through this area, are all showing a good service.

What was called off

The dispute involves more than 1,500 drivers at eight Arriva garages: Barking, Edmonton, Enfield, Grays, Palmers Green, Stamford Hill, Tottenham and Wood Green. Two of those, Tottenham and Wood Green, are in this borough.

Unite’s date list, published on 23 August, ran to nine separate blocks. Drivers struck through the last week of August. The block that was postponed is the one that would have taken buses off the road yesterday.

Seven blocks remain on the published calendar:

Monday 7 September is the one to watch. Unite’s statement postponed “strikes this week” and names the Friday walkout specifically. It says nothing either way about the Monday, which falls in the following week. The union has published nothing since, and TfL is advertising nothing. Neither has confirmed that Monday is off, and neither has confirmed it is on.

Why the dispute started

This is not a pay dispute. It is about heat in the cab.

Unite says most Arriva North London buses have air cooling rather than air conditioning, and that during this summer’s heatwaves the system cut cab temperatures by only two or three degrees. The union reported cabs reaching 40 degrees and higher, and drivers suffering heat exhaustion, heat stroke and dehydration.

An earlier offer was put to members in the week of 19 August and rejected as not going far enough. That is what restarted the strikes on 25 August. This second offer is the one now being voted on.

General secretary Sharon Graham said Unite “is determined that the conditions of bus drivers are improved in London and beyond”, and that the union expects operators “to treat workers with dignity and respect”. National lead officer Onay Kasab said the improved offer “deals with the issues raised by Unite members”.

What it means for you

• Buses are running normally. Nothing on TfL’s status suggests otherwise, and the four local Arriva routes are all in good service.
• Do not plan around Monday 7 September either way. If the ballot goes Arriva’s way, the remaining dates fall. If it does not, a strike on that Monday would give barely a weekend’s notice, and it is the fourth day of the Haringey autumn term.
• Check on the morning, not the night before. The 4 September walkout was called off three days out. The August pause was announced the day before that walkout was due, and the strikes were back on within a week. TfL’s bus status is the fastest place to see it.
• The routes that would be hit here are the 41, N41, W3 and 102. The 91, N91, W5 and W7 are not Arriva routes and ran throughout the August walkouts, which left Crouch End Broadway with three daytime services out of four.

Update to our earlier report

On 25 August we published eight remaining strike dates to 20 October. Seven of those eight now stand, and the first of them, 4 September, was called off. That page carries a note pointing here.

Related

• Crouch End roadworks and travel: what is closed on the roads, and which buses have moved.
• Crouch Hill station shut two Sundays: the Suffragette line closures on 6 and 13 September.
• Which local routes the strike takes out: route by route at six local stops.

Sources

• Arriva North London, significantly improved offer to workers could signal end of dispute, Unite the union, 1 September 2026 for the postponement of the 4 September walkout, the ballot, the eight garages, the 1,500-plus figure, the “over 40 routes” description and the quotes from Sharon Graham and Onay Kasab.
• Arriva North London bus driver strikes resume next week, Unite the union, 23 August 2026 for the full published date list to 20 October, the air cooling and 40-degree cab figures, the health effects and the rejection of the earlier offer.
• Arriva North London bus strikes halted to allow members to vote on new offer, Unite the union, 18 August 2026 for the August pause and the terms on which it was lifted.
• TfL bus status and the TfL line status API, both checked on 5 September 2026, for the absence of any strike notice and the good service on routes 41, N41, W3 and 102.
• Haringey Council school term dates 2026 to 2027 for the autumn term start on Wednesday 2 September 2026.