'Public transport will be out of control come July 19', warns desperate bus driver
14 July 2021, 17:14 | Updated: 14 July 2021, 17:51
Bus driver: 'Come Monday it's going to be out of control'
This desperate bus driver warns James O'Brien public transport will be 'out of control' and enforcing mask-wearing will become 'impossible' come July 19.
It comes after the Mayor of London was quizzed by James on behalf of a TfL bus driver who questioned how he will enforce compulsory mask-wearing after July 19.
Bus driver Brian began by telling James the issue: "Over 6 million people a day travel on the busses James, it's nigh on impossible to enforce what he wants. If somebody gets on without a mask, do we stop the bus?"
James asked: "What have you done in those situations?"
Brian replied: "It gets to a point where you don't bother anymore. The abuse you get. You can call in - now imagine, you've got over 600 routes - but if every driver calls in at one time, what's going to happen James?
"And he also mentioned the success of the alcohol ban on public transport, James, the reality is, after each journey you've got to check the bus over, first thing in the morning you go and check the bus over you see empty bottles, beer cans.
"They hide it a lot better. With the masks, they may put it on to get through the ticket barrier, when you look on the CCTV most of them are taking their mask off."
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Brian then described a scenario where someone refuses to wear a mask, asking, "Do you then hamper the journey of all these people for this one guy?"
James then asked for an example of where someone had behaved "in a particularly obnoxious fashion" after being asked to wear a mask, to which Brian said it was as recently as Friday night.
He told James: "Oxford Circus. Guy gets on the bus, doesn't want to wear a mask, a customer on the bus points out 'well we've all got to wear the mask'. There was nearly a punch up on the bus.
"It's a crowded bus. This guy's adamant he's not wearing a mask, so what do I do James?"
James replied: "I don't know Brian. You let him on the bus or you get off and you physically remove him from the bus and leave yourself exposed to criminal action... or you may get battered."
Brian concluded: "Come Monday, it's going to be out of control."
Speaking to LBC's James O'Brien, he said that he had spoken to a wide range of individuals and businesses and found that most were in favour of the move to continue making face coverings a condition of carriage.
