Listeners dismiss Sadiq Khan's claim only 5% aren't wearing facemasks on buses

13 August 2020, 11:17 | Updated: 13 August 2020, 11:34

Listeners tell Sadiq Khan his numbers on facemasks are very wrong

Sadiq Khan insisted only 5% of people on buses are not wearing facemasks and James O'Brien was inundated with listeners telling him his numbers are very wrong.

Sheridan called Speak To Sadiq to complain about the large number of people not wearing facemasks on London's transport.

The Mayor of London insisted that his figures show that 90% are wearing face coverings, while 5% have legitimate medical reasons for not wearing them.

That only left 5% of people rebelling against the rules and he said he wanted to clamp down on those people with enforcement and fines.

But Sheridan insisted those numbers were completely out of step with what he has seen on the buses - and James received message after message backing up the caller.

Sheridan told Mr Khan: "Sadiq, that's really not true. If you really believe that, then we should start tagging you on Twitter with our experiences on the bus.

"I know for a fact the bus driver just playing a recording telling people to wear a mask and stickers on windows really isn't doing it."

Other messages James received into the studio included:

"Utter rubbish from Sadiq Khan on LBC. Bus drivers are just letting people on without masks, doing or saying nothing. It seems if you don't want to wear a mask, you don't have to. Our bus passed lots of enforcement officers who didn't do anything."

"I've just come back from Amsterdam where absolutely everyone is wearing a mask on a bus. The situation in London is close to the polar opposite."

Mr Khan insisted: "When people tweet me these pictures, I forward them to TfL and they check it out.

"The numbers we have are accurate figures. We have a weekly tally."