TRANSPORT for London (TfL) washed its hands of big wage gaps on buses bearing its logo yesterday — but the public gave a big thumbs up to drivers’ fight for equality.

Thousands of members of union Unite will stop engines today in a landmark dispute aimed at securing a single deal for pay and conditions.

Taxpayer-owned TfL, which hands out the cash and contracts for buses to a hotchpotch of 18 profiteers, claimed yesterday that it had nothing to do with the issue.

“Bus drivers’ pay and conditions are a matter for the bus companies and Unite to discuss,” said TfL senior official Leon Daniels.

But Londoners appeared to disagree, with a big majority backing the bus drivers’ campaign for a capital-wide deal to end wage inequality of over £3 for new starters.

Two-thirds of those approached by pollster Mass1 backed the struggle for fairness.

“As bus company directors enjoy lottery-style salaries, bus drivers doing the same job on the same route are being pitted against one another on different rates of pay,” said Unite regional officer Wayne King.

“Passengers sitting side by side on the same route expect to pay the same fare, so why shouldn’t drivers expect to be paid the same rate?”

The dispute is the latest step in a 20-year fight for a London-wide agreement since buses were privatised by John Major’s Conservative government in 1994-5.

Wages for new starters have plummeted since then.