Falling asleep at the wheel and urinating in jars - the reality for London bus drivers

A London bus driver says poor working conditions are putting safety at risk.

An investigation by ITV News London uncovered claims that long hours, exhausting schedules and inadequate rest are leading to widespread fatigue.

Some drivers fear the workload could even lead to accidents.

Current rules address a number of the issues including regulation of driving hours, but workers say they don't go far enough.

In November 2024, a campaign for a London Bus Workers' Bill of Rights was started.

It included better rest time, toilet facilities and appropriate temperature control for different seasons.

A petition was also handed into parliament asking for the campaign to be made into legislation.

However, one current driver who spoke to ITV News London anonymously, said drivers "feel ignored" by TFL and their operators.

The driver, who we have called Clare Smith, said: "TFL have chosen to ignore it and it shows in the schedules, you know, with making us work longer shifts when they change the rotas and cutting down our stand time.

"...You've got the controllers who are encouraging or trying to pressure us not to take toilet breaks, like, go out straight away because it helps their statistics."

But as well as not taking breaks, a lack of toilets also poses a problem for many drivers.

According to the London Assembly, there are 675 bus routes - but nearly a quarter of them do not have these facilities.

Clare says she has had to resort to other ways to relieve herself and this isn't uncommon.

"I know that a lot of drivers use bottles because either the facilities provided are non existent or just really disgusting," she said.

"I've used a jar, a newspaper and baby wipes... I'm not in the cab, I've gone upstairs.

"But it isn't uncommon to do that. It's just you haven't got the time. You don't want to lose the mileage for the company and there aren't any facilities."

On Thursday 19 March, drivers in East London walked out in a similar dispute to the issues raised by Clare.

The Unite Union say driver fatigue is a "very serious problem".

They blame long shifts, insufficient breaks and inadequate running times that leads to drivers working overtime.

John Murphy, the regional officer for Unite, said: "If fatigue really mattered, what we wouldn't be doing is making drivers work excessive hours, going backwards and forwards on the busiest roads in Europe."

He adds: "What we're saying is give us sensible schedules that are not flogging us to death, that are not making things dangerous because people are suffering from fatigue, and we also want to go home and see our families now and then so it's about respect, it's about dignity as much as anything else."

Stagecoach, which employs those at today's walkout, said: "We remain committed to continuing this dialogue to resolve the issues.

"It is important to say that all schedules, duties and rotas have been compiled in line with the agreements we have with Unite that have been in place for many years, and which are designed to ensure safety of operation.

"While there have been changes following amendments by TfL to some routes, these all remain within agreements and there has been no material changes to the average times on duty."

Clare adds that overtime is very common especially with all the different employment contracts and as the cost of living goes up.

"I'm not on such a great contract," she explains.

"The senior drivers have been on contracts that have more benefits and then they cut the benefits in the later contracts.

"So the drivers that have been there for one to about four, five years - it goes up a bit every year - they have to maybe work more shifts to make ends meet because it's not cheap to live in London. "

These concerns aren't new either.

A London Assembly Transport Committee report commissioned in 2017 found driver fatigue was a chronic issue and urged TfL to make improvements.

A report in 2019 by TfL also found that 17% of drivers had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Kevin Mustafa, a former bus driver, quit his job after five years because of the working conditions.

He explained how fatigue caused him to fall asleep at the wheel.

"Luckily enough I was stationary - but some of these incidents that are happening on the road - absolutely some of those, in my opinion tie back to fatigue on London's buses," he said.

"It kind of got pushed to one side and forgotten about and the industry's continued going forward and there's bus routes which are being cut so some drivers are getting pushed to the limit.

"There's a shortage of drivers because drivers are walking away from the job because it's becoming unbearable."

But Clare adds the fatigue is exacerbated by scheduling issues.

"So if you're working seven days and you're doing 10 hour shifts, that's 70 hours you're doing because they scheduled it that way. You don't have a choice," she said.

"...How can you keep people safe? When you get to your seventh day, you're so mentally tired because you are looking out for hazards every few seconds because people do very dangerous things around the bus all the time."

Like Kevin, she has also been impacted by tiredness whilst working.

"I've been very too tired to drive. I think we all have," she said.

"We do the best we can with sleep but sometimes the time they give you between shifts - it's not adequate."

Clare believes that this could be contributing to road accidents.

There were four in February alone - though the reason for these is still under investigation and TFL say they are "dedicated" to learning from every incident and they have made "strong progress" on bus safety.

When asked about why these crashes could be happening, Claire said: "I think it's more likely to be driver fatigue than anything else because I think sometimes they are experienced drivers, they must be tired because you don't make those sort of mistakes knowing the stakes.

"I mean, just because profit comes before anything else, then they will rush people through. So maybe some of them are new drivers too."

Another former bus driver, Lorraine Robertson says she was in a constant loop of fatigue and worry during her 20 years of service."Am I going to crash?" she said,

"That is my worst fear that I would actually crash my bus and hurt people. It's just stressful.

"The feeling of being dehydrated shakes, headaches, disorientated, i think that always put me on edge every time I got on the bus I'm thinking where am I going to use the toilet."

TfL said: "Bus drivers play an essential role in keeping the capital moving. Alongside bus operators, TfL takes their safety and welfare seriously and TfL rightly requires operators to meet high standards

"TfL is working together with operators on a range of measures to further improve working conditions, health and wellbeing.

"TfL is committed to ensuring that all staff have a fair work schedule, with safe vehicles and access to the facilities they need to carry out their roles effectively."

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