Two months ago Ricki Reid was banned from blowing bubbles over safety concerns
An East London bus driver banned from blowing bubbles from his cab window says passengers want him to “keep on sharing the joy”. Ricki Reid, who drove the 106 bus between Finsbury Park and Whitechapel, said he was asked to stop by his employer, Go Ahead London, a couple of months ago due to ‘safety concerns’.
The dad-of-six has become a local legend in recent years for his cheerful antics, becoming famous for driving the ‘bubble bus’. Go Ahead wouldn’t confirm the exact ‘safety considerations’ that prompted the ban when approached by MyLondon last week, but said he remains a valued member of the team.
“A lot of people have complained to the company, and my managers told me that they’re inundated with emails asking, ‘Why have I been banned?’” Ricki told MyLondon. “I think the passengers just want me to continue sharing the joy.”
He began blowing bubbles from his bus cab years ago, when, standing in a supermarket, he noticed a small bottle had been marked ‘reduced to clear’. A few hours later, during his shift, he began blowing bubbles while waiting at a bus stop, prompting a black cab driver to wind his window down and tell Ricki he had made his day.
From then on, Ricki became the ‘bubble bus driver’ and upgraded to a gun to spare the difficulty of needing to open the bottle. Recalling his most wholesome interaction, Ricki said: “One guy came up to me shaking at the end of my route near The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. He said, ‘You’re a good man, you’ve got a good heart’.
“He said his daughter often rides my bus, and she’s very poorly with a terminal illness. He said she never smiles, but when she talks about me, she smiles.
“The guy then broke down and started crying in front of me, and I couldn’t hold back my tears, and I started crying too. We were hugging there for a couple of minutes before he left the bus.”
Ricki said he is humbled to be considered a local legend in East London, particularly because he knows many people who use his route, as he grew up in the area. Aldi has appointed Ricki as their new ‘Ambassador of Joy’ so he can continue to spread cheer in his local community.
“It’s all fun, really, but [my favourite part of the route is] coming through Hackney Central, it’s my hometown,” Ricki concluded. “When you pull up to the bus stop outside the town hall, you’ve got to have a bubble shower. Everyone sees it, everyone knows it, they say ‘it’s the bubble bus!’.”
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