Parents and workers are spending hundreds of pounds on taxis while students are missing crucial GCSE and A-Level exams due to a crippling bus strike which is due to continue “indefinitely”.

Around 650 drivers and engineers at Arriva Yorkshire walked out in a row over pay on Monday.

The bus company serves a population of about 2.5million people, including the cities of Wakefield, Bradford, York and Leeds.

With few other public transport options in many parts of the region, it leaves those without car travel few alternatives other than paying for a taxi, if they can afford it.

A dad-of-two from Batley, who asked not to be named, told i it will cost him around £12 a day to get two children to their secondary school.

“The fact that we don’t know how long it’s going to be, that’s what’s causing the stress. They’re saying it’s indefinite, is it going to be a week, two weeks, a month?” he said.

“We can probably afford [£12 a day] that but we’re in a working-class town, people can’t afford £200 a month on taxis. I feel incredibly sorry for people it must be causing massive stress.

“What happens if it turns into months? If it ends up costing £500 we might not be going on holiday.”

The dad added that booking a taxi isn’t a simple task due to a lack of drivers since the pandemic, and that his children’s school doesn’t allow pupils to have phones meaning he must organise pick-ups and drop-offs for them.

“Kids have been through really tough times,” he said.

“This is the first proper exams they’ve been able to take since Covid.

“I’m really disappointed with the Mayor Tracy Brabin, we haven’t really heard anything from her.

“There’s been a lack of communication.

“I only knew about it because the school emailed us last week, otherwise we wouldn’t have had a clue.

“Our transport system is terrible anyway, getting around West Yorkshire is really hard.

“Our trains are poor, there’s no tram system, we really are relying on buses.”

Both sides in the bus strike continue to accuse the other of failing to meet for negotiations.

Unite the union said in a tweet on Friday: “We have called Arriva every day this week and asked them for fresh talks. They either don’t answer the phone or don’t talk to us. Our door is open for talks, sadly the company seem to have chosen a different path.”

Arriva called for the strike to be suspended and claims it has offered “the vast majority of workers in Yorkshire” pay rises of between 7 and 12.5 per cent, “an unprecedented move in direct response to the cost-of-living pressures felt across the region”.  

Meanwhile, travellers caught in the middle took to social media to vent frustration.

Sarah Mitchell tweeted to Unite: “You’re causing people to not be able to afford to get to work, and therefore struggle to pay their bills!”

A teenage student wrote: “How about us in Gildersome??? I’m a year 11 student who has exams on Monday at 9AM. How am I supposed to get there now? My college is in Leeds Town Centre so what am I going to do? All my family work full time (7am-7pm, Mon-Thursday) It’s selfish of you…. Absolutely selfish”

A dad tweeted Mayor Tracy Brabin to say: “My son couldn’t get his school bus yesterday, he missed three exams. Both parents are key workers in jobs that can’t strike. Also can’t get public bus as that is run by Arriva Yorkshire as well.”

And another resident Lynsey Bennett added: “My son has had to miss school today due to the strikes. If I was to pay for a taxi it would be £32 a day just to go to and from school.”

With a national rail strike called by the RMT union due to add to the travel chaos on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23, and Saturday 25 June, the dispute is threatening to erupt into a major political row.

A by-election is set to take place in Wakefield on Thursday 23 June to replace the disgraced former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan following his conviction for sexual assault.

The Government has condemned the RMT rail strike as “reckless” and “thoroughly irresponsible”, while Labour has taken a more cautious approach.

A spokesperson for leader Sir Keir Starmer said he does not want the strikes to go ahead but supported the rights of workers to walk out.

Tyler Wilson, a Yorkshire Party councillor has been out campaigning ahead of the by-election and says the bus strike has left families “in bits”.

“I was speaking to a mum with two kids aged 12 and 16, one doing GCSEs, the school is being quite inflexible and the students are worried about getting deducted marks and not getting into college,” he said.

“There’s people that might lose their jobs.

“Tracy Brabin should be doing more, when there’s a major event like this.

“I feel like Labour have got their hands tied behind their back because of the by-election.”

Hours before the bus strike was due to begin last Sunday, Labour Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin was tweeting about an offer for free bus journeys around the region and made no mention of the upcoming disruption.

Ms Brabin has since issued a statement acknowledging the strike is causing “real hardship” to people in the region.

Speaking to i, Ms Brabin revealed she is extending a free shuttle bus in Wakefield and said the situation “cannot go on”.

“I have spoken to Arriva I have spoken to Unite and, as a passenger myself, what I want to see is for them to come round the table and come to a conclusion,” she said.

“Whilst it’s really important that bus drivers get paid a fair wage – and there is a recruitment crisis and you are not going to be able to recruit if they aren’t paid – it’s really important kids get to their GCSEs, that people get to work.

“I am doing what I can, also we have a free shuttle bus that goes around Wakefield.

“But I really really encourage both sides to come to a swift conclusion, this cannot go on.”

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