Drivers should stop work during hot weather, says union

Trade union Unite has issued bus driver members with a letter to show management when conditions become too hot in drivers’ cabs.

The letter informs managers that the driver is stopping work due to safety reasons.

The union says it has taken this action ‘as the UK has already experienced three heatwaves this year’. The letter informs management that the driver has ceased work or will not work under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The section allows workers to stop work to remove themselves from a position of ‘serious and imminent danger’. Unite says drivers have regularly warned employers that the boiling conditions mean that drivers become, fatigued, drowsy and more likely to make driving errors putting them, their passengers and other road users at risk.

According to Unite, overheating bus cabs have become an increasing problem for bus drivers as the UK’s weather becomes more extreme. The union says many cabs are not air conditioned or have cooling systems that do not work. It says drivers have reported temperatures exceeding 40 degrees centigrade in some cabs.

Bus companies have been reluctant to take action on driver’s complaints of being too hot, according to Unite.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Bus companies must stop passing the buck and take immediate action to ensure the safety of their drivers and passengers in extreme heat.

“For too long employers have played fast and loose with driver safety, putting profits before people.”