As rail and postal strikes have been suspended following the Queen's death, so too have bus worker walk-outs initially planned across Kent during the national mourning period.

Staff at bus company Arriva planned for strikes to take place at its depots in Medway, Maidstone, Gravesend and Tunbridge Wells on September 16, 20 and 30 during an ongoing pay dispute.

A spokesman for Unite, the union for Arriva bus drivers, has confirmed strike action in Kent will not take place during the period of national mourning, on September 16 or September 20.

The period of mourning will end the day after Queen Elizabeth's state funeral, which will take place next Monday.

The first of Arriva drivers' four planned strikes for September took place on Monday, September 5, after 600 members of Unite the Union in parts of Kent voted to take industrial action last month, by a margin of 96.5%.

At the time, Unite's general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Arriva and Deutsche Bahn, their parent company, are incredibly wealthy. They can fully afford to give our members a decent pay rise, but have chosen not to.

“Unite’s members have rightly rejected a real terms pay-cut masquerading as a pay rise and they will be receiving the union’s total support throughout this dispute.”

Deutsche Bahn, which owns Arriva, is one of the largest transport companies in the world. It has received £560 million in profits from Arriva's UK bus division in the last 10 years.

As of yet, no deal has been reached between the workers and Arriva after bus staff were offered a 10% rise but union members rejected it describing it as a real terms pay cut due to rising inflation and cost of living.

Before the Queen's death last week, Arriva confirmed the third and fourth strikes would go ahead after an agreement had not been reached over pay.

An Arriva spokesman said: "We have put forward a significant pay offer for our employees, which recognises the great work that they do and reflects the unprecedented cost-of-living challenge facing the region.

"However, any pay rise has to be affordable in order to protect the long-term sustainability of the bus network. We urge Unite the Union to work with us by suspending strike action and allow members to vote on this increase."

This month was expected to face considerable strike action, with Arriva drivers, postal workers, RMT and Aslef all planning industrial action.

In response to the Queen's death, Royal Mail workers suspended the second day of their 48-hour strike action which was planned for Friday, September 9. Royal Mail workers will be striking on September 30 and October 1 instead.

Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, which represents postal workers, said: “Following the very sad news of the passing of the Queen, and out of respect for her service to the country and her family, the union has decided to call off tomorrow’s planned strike action.”

Train drivers' union Aslef has postponed a strike planned for September 15 and the RMT rail strike action planned for September 15 and 17 was also suspended.