BUS bosses were secretly briefed that Transport for London (TfL) had lied to the public to bolster their case against recent strikes, workers claimed yesterday.

Transport union Unite was seeking to verify the allegation as it postponed two planned London-wide strikes in a “goodwill gesture” to encourage bosses to get round the negotiating table.

The 24-hour strikes had been due for tomorrow and Monday, but reps instead challenged managers to attend talks at conciliation service Acas.

Unite is currently locked in a bitter dispute with London’s dozen bus privateers over huge pay variations between companies.

TfL has claimed that the union’s demand for the companies to negotiate collectively with Unite is unlawful — one privateer boss said it would amount to “acting like a cartel” during last week’s stoppage.

But the union has been informed that a secret meeting took place on January 30 where TfL managers signed confidentiality agreements before being told that joint bargaining would in fact be legal.

Unite officers have written to Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson asking him to confirm the meeting took place and have threatened to use freedom of information laws to find out if the allegations are true.

The sensational report pulls the mask off TfL’s claim that it is a neutral arbiter in the dispute between trade unionists and bus companies.

Unite officer Wayne King said the company seemed to be playing the “wrecker” role in the dispute.

“In public TfL says nothing can be done, and that a collective meeting between the bus companies is illegal. Yet privately, we are told that it seems TfL knows that’s not to be the case,” he said.

“We need to know that TfL is neutral and not secretly resorting to blocking a resolution to the dispute. Such behaviour, if true, would be shameful from a taxpayer-funded organisation.”

Unite has demanded TfL board members sign “a public statement of neutrality.”

But TfL surface transport head Leon Daniels tried to sidestep the allegation, saying “no such meeting was held with the bus operators” — despite the fact Unite had instead referred to an internal meeting at TfL.

When pressed on this detail, a TfL spokesman denied a meeting with TfL managers had taken place either.

In other private meetings, bosses reportedly suggested TfL could exempt strike periods from the fines it normally charges for underperformance, which itself could be a breach of the law.

Mr Daniels welcomed Unite’s decision to suspend strikes but still refused to budge.

“We continue to urge Unite and the bus companies to meet individually to resolve their differences,” he said.