BUS drivers went on strike yesterday as they warned that extreme heat in their cabs could lead to fatal crashes.
About 1,500 Arriva North London drivers with union Unite started two days of action, one of 11 planned by mid-October.
Bus drivers went on strike as they warned that extreme heat in their cabs could lead to fatal crashes Credit: Chris Eades
About 1,500 Arriva North London drivers with union Unite started two days of action, one of 11 planned by mid-October Credit: Chris Eades
They want more air-con in buses.
Driver Peter Skinner, 56, said: “I know a lady at another garage who passed out as she stepped out of a cab.
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“She was pregnant.
“How long before that happens at the wheel?
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“Think of the carnage of a 14-ton bus with 80 people in it.”
Peter Crane, 62, showed a photo of his cab temperature reading 44C (111F).
He said: “We’re so fed up, we get into the bus, and it’s absolutely boiling.
“It makes you drowsy. It makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. You’re sweating, you’re sticky.
“It’s like, you get off a plane, you go to Greece or Spain or something.”
“It’s like being in a greenhouse. That’s my life. You can’t walk out. It’s not like an air-conditioned office. Not like our bosses, our directors, who are driving by with what we need, air-con in a car, it’s cool.
“We just want the same thing. Why can’t we have air-con? Why can’t we be comfortable and safe?
Unite said driving conditions this summer have been some of the worst ever, despite union warnings 18 months ago.
Arriva London said: “We are continuing to upgrade air-con and new buses.”
