The workers’ union RMT announced yesterday that more than 800 Stagecoach bus drivers, cleaners and engineering grades at garages in Exeter, Torquay and Barnstaple are involved in the dispute.

More than 78 per cent voted for strike action.

The union said its members were “furious” that Stagecoach’s offer was less than the RPI rate of inflation, currently 3.9 per cent, and so amount to a real-terms cut.