A STRIKING Weymouth bus driver claims he received a letter from his employers informing him he was not entitled to sick pay just a day after leaving hospital for cancer treatment.

Mac Patterson was one of 110 drivers involved in an industrial dispute with First bus company before he went in to hospital to have lymph nodes removed from his neck.

Mr Patterson, 66, spent two-and-a-half weeks convalescing before he was allowed home.

He had been waiting for a letter in the post to tell him if the surgery had been a success but was shocked to receive one from the bus company telling him he wouldn’t be getting any sick pay in the months he is off work.

He was told that First was not obliged to pay him company or statutory sick pay, which is 80 per cent, while he was still a member of the part-time picket line.

Carol Sim, First’s senior controller in the area, wrote: “Sick pay will cease for the days you are taking industrial action. However, you will receive sick pay for the days that you should be working but are unable to attend.”

The same notice was sent to three other sick drivers.

The drivers must sign documentation confirming they will return to work when adequately healthy if they wish to receive sick pay.

Mr Patterson said: “When I read the letter saying that they won’t pay me as long as I am still striking I couldn’t believe it, the news hit me very hard.

“I was still in the early stages of recovery from a serious operation when the notice came through my letterbox.

“I was waiting to hear news about my surgery but instead I hear that I’m going to have no money coming in. I was faced with the choice of abandoning the picket line or losing my only source of income.

“I am going to be off work for some time to come and I just can’t afford to be going on without sick pay.

“The timing of it all was absolutely unbelievable.

“I feel like they are kicking me while I’m down, it’s hard to take.”

Mr Patterson, who joined the company in 2014 after working as an electrician, has no choice but to commit his future to First so that he has a source of income while he deals with his illness.

A fellow driver, who asked not to be named, said: “First have targeted the most vulnerable among us. This latest move is a stark reminder of the draconian and dehumanising style of management they have employed.”

About 95 per cent of the drivers who work for First in Weymouth and Bridport are protesting against what they describe as ‘poverty pay’.

Spearheaded by the Unite union, campaigners claim First drivers in Yeovil are paid 70p more per hour while rival firms in Bournemouth and Poole are said to earn £2 more per hour.

First Group, which announced a £52m annual profit last month, is offering a 2.3 per cent pay increase over two years, which would take the drivers’ hourly rate to £9 hour.

A majority of the workforce has opposed this suggestion by picketing outside the Weymouth depot up to three times a week.

A First spokesman said: “We regularly update our staff on company policies that may affect their work. In this case we wrote to employees to remind them of company policy with regard to the current industrial action.

“This letter reminds staff that those who are off work due to illness are entitled to either company sick pay, or statutory sick pay. However sick pay is not paid where staff are actively taking industrial action instead of recuperating from their illness.”

UNITE said that two of its members were suffering from cancer and two from serious heart conditions, and they had all been told that they will have their sick pay docked while the strikes over ‘poverty pay’ continue.

The company has said that sick pay will be docked on the days that strikes happen, even if employees have been ‘signed off’ work by their GP.

The union claimed the decision was illegal.

Unite regional officer Bob Lanning said: “These are very serious life-threatening conditions – we are not talking about the odd day off for the common cold – and we are taking legal advice as we believe the management is acting illegally.

“What we are witnessing is almost unbelievable in the context of a legitimate industrial dispute in Britain in 2016 – it flouts every canon of humanity and common decency.”

Unite claims the pay dispute would cost just £48,000-a-year to settle, while the losses caused by the six week-old dispute "is now £250,000 and could reach £500,000", if the industrial action continues for another six weeks.

BUS drivers are set to strike for a further 23 days as unions show solidarity saying “their fight is our fight.”

Weymouth and Bridport will see more industrial action after talks between First Dorset and the union Unite broke down. Unite announced a further 23 days of strikes between now and September 3.

Drivers first began their walkout over ‘poverty pay’ on June 20.

First Dorset said it was ‘disappointed’ by the news of further action.

A spokesman added: “We want to resolve this matter as quickly as possible but as we have previously stated, we are not able to agree to inflation busting pay demands which will cripple our local business.”

First Bus said the 2.3 per cent pay increase over two years was still on the table, as was the offer to go to binding arbitration.

The spokesman added: “We would stress again that the longer this goes on, the more damage it does to local people, the local economy and our local business, and it increases the possibility of journeys and or services being cut, and the associated jobs being lost, as we complete a root and branch review of the local network.”

The drivers have the support of the Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland Trades Union Congress.

The TUC branch said the dispute had been ‘rumbling on for years’, stating: “All Weymouth drivers are asking for is wage parity with Yeovil fleet. We urge local workers to take collections for the drivers and deliver them to the picket lines at Weymouth bus station on Monday, Wednesday or Friday mornings.

"Bus workers spend their wages in the local economy. What benefits the, benefits the community as a whole. Their fight is our fight.”