It seems London’s bus drivers are taking desperate measures to fight for more toilets on their routes. A leaked document suggests they will be holding protests at transport and local government offices on Thursday 23 August over the sticky issue.
In what trade union Unite described as a ‘hard-hitting newsletter to members’, it revealed that some bus drivers had been so in need of relief that they had urinated in public. Apparently some have even been arrested for this act.
Guru wishes bus drivers well in their quest, not wishing any employee to find completing their daily duties a strain on their bladder.
However, a certain amount of common sense must be applied here. After all, lessons should be learned from the tragedy in Germany where cab-side urination led to the untimely death of a train driver. After an automatic system stopped a train due to a lack of driver, the unfortunate zugtreiber was found several hundred yards behind the halted train with his flies undone. Apparently it’s common practice for German train crews to pee from the side of the drivers cab.
Back in the UK, as well as providing the odd clean toilet on bus routes, perhaps Transport for London could ban drivers from a few of the greasy spoon cafes that seem to proliferate next to depots. If bus drivers spent a little less time drinking tea before shifts, they might find a little less need for toilet breaks.
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Apparently the next stage for Unite could be a ballot for strike action. Let’s hope there isn’t a sit-down protest.
