A lack of toilets is forcing women to spend their lunch breaks trying to buy new clothes, former bus driver Antonia Pugh-Thomas said
Female drivers are “bleeding through their trousers” due to a lack of toilets on London bus routes. Antonia Pugh-Thomas, 56, says she quit her job as a bus driver last Friday due to degrading conditions that had left her colleagues’ uniforms ruined because of inadequate facilities.
Drivers are often forced to go for three hours without using a bathroom, with an ITV News London probe last week revealing that six routes across the capital have no facilities at all. Dylan Carroll, who runs London Bus Forums, believes this amount could be even higher at eight after carrying out his own investigation.
“I’ve spoken to female drivers who’ve not been able to get to a toilet on time so have bled through their uniform and straight through their seat,” Ms Pugh-Thomas told MyLondon. “They then have had to spend their entire 40-minute break trying to buy new clothes in order to carry on working.
“It’s such a tough environment for women to operate like that. The level of misogyny [in the London bus industry] is astonishing. I’ve never encountered as much misogyny as I have in the last two years since I became a driver.
“Women need access to a bathroom; they have a period every month. But because it doesn’t affect the people making decisions, they just seem to ignore it.”
Throughout the record-breaking heat this summer, drivers have been afraid to drink water due to the lack of toilets. To make matters worse, a substantial proportion of buses have faulty air conditioning or air cooling, resulting in temperatures inside driver cabs reaching 40-45C.
While being difficult enough for male drivers, Ms Pugh-Thomas believes bus companies and Transport for London (TfL) are particularly ignorant about the impact of lengthy exposure on women.
“I’m in my mid-50s and post-menopausal, so my temperature gauge is completely different. A lot of my managers looked at me like I was making this up, if they had bothered to read a medical journal they’d see all sorts of investigations done into what happens when your body goes through the menopause and one is your inability to control your inner temperature.
“I can’t believe it’s 2026 and we’re talking about giving bus drivers a decent working environment and making it comfortable.”
Last week, MyLondon launched the Back Our Bus Drivers campaign to spotlight the inhumane conditions that drivers face and encourage Sir Sadiq Khan and TfL to take action. While a wider ‘Bill of Rights’ has been proposed at City Hall, MyLondon is particularly pushing for solutions surrounding fatigue, safety, a lack of toilet facilities and faulty air conditioning.
The Mayor has supported the Back Our Bus Drivers campaign and said he has instructed TfL to investigate whether the current safety laws are fit for purpose, but he has yet to confirm whether he will introduce the ‘Bill of Rights’ proposed by Assembly Member Keith Prince in early July.
Lorna Murphy, TfL’s director of buses, said: “Bus drivers play an essential role in keeping the capital moving. Alongside bus operators, we take their safety and welfare seriously, and we rightly require operators to meet high standards.
“We are working together on a range of measures to further improve working conditions, health and wellbeing. We are 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. We regularly engage with Unite the Union on these matters.”
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