Furious drivers share photos of filthy London buses as it’s revealed FOURTEEN TfL staff have now died from coronavirus – but Sadiq Khan claims they DON’T need to wear protective gear (5 Pics)
Sadiq Khan today insisted London bus drivers do not need to wear personal protective equipment, despite the number of public transport workers in the capital to have died from the coronavirus rising to 14.
The London Mayor has come under fire from transport workers who say they are working in dirty conditions while 90 per cent of the capital's buses and more than half of Tube services continue to run.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Mr Khan said Transport for London had sought advice from Public Health England, the Department for Transport and the World Health Organisation on whether drivers should have PPE.
He said: 'What they've told us is that PPE should only be used in care settings. You know the shortage there is of PPE for our NHS and care staff, as recently as yesterday we rechased the government to get advice on this. Their advice is quite clear transport workers should not be wearing PPE.'
Offering his condolences to the relatives of all 14 London public transport workers to died during the pandemic, Mr Khan set out some of the measures TfL was taking to protect workers and passengers.
He said: 'We've made sure we've had the most enhanced cleaning regimes we can do, we've learnt lessons from around the world so far example we make sure we use antiviral hospital-style disinfectant, regularly cleaning key touch points during the course of the day. So on the buses, not just the bus garages and depots but the steering wheels and the handles.
Mr Khan also explained a plastic film was being used to cover holes in the plastic screen separating drivers and passengers.
But drivers are unhappy with their conditions, Anne Nyack appeared minutes after Mr Khan's interview to speak about her son, Holloway bus driver Emecka Nyack, who died from Covid-19.
She said: 'It made me very, very angry that Sadiq Khan is saying 'they're diong this, they're doing that and they're doing deep cleaning'.'