London bus driver hits out at Sadiq Khan after mayor claimed TfL workers wouldn't be penalised for refusing to drive hot vehicles

Published: 09:52, 2 August 2026 | Updated: 09:58, 2 August 2026 A London bus driver has criticised the mayor after he claimed he had 'given TfL permission' to allow workers not to drive vehicles if they were too hot.  TfL's bus drivers were among the worst affected workers in the city when the four heatwaves of 2026 struck, as many vehicles did not have working air conditioning and the temperatures in some drivers' cabs reached over 40C.  Sir Sadiq Khan previously claimed that he had given TfL permission to allow bus drivers not to work when the temperature in their vehicles got too high.  He stated on LBC radio: 'I don't want any bus driver to work in conditions that are unacceptable in London in 2026.  'Let me speak directly to bus drivers - if your cabin is too hot, I've given TfL permission, and told the bus operators, that you must not be driving that bus.'  But many drivers still found they had to work in the soaring temperatures - and with no air conditioning.  Antonia Pugh-Thomas found that when she tried refusing to take a bus that had no air conditioning during the extreme heatwave, the response was outrage.   Despite hearing from the mayor that London's bus drivers would not be penalised for refusing to drive hot vehicles, when Ms Pugh-Thomas tried to refuse driving the bus with broken air conditioning, she was told she had no choice and that it was fitted with 'air cooling'.  Many of London's buses are not fitted with working air conditioning, leading to some drivers' cabs soaring to 40C-plus  Antonia Pugh-Thomas (pictured) resigned from her job as a London bus driver after battling the temperatures this summer  Air cooling is an internal fan system which blows - already hot - air around the bus cabin, as opposed to air conditioning, which lowers the temperature.  She was told to take the bus out regardless to 'maintain the service', and was shocked at the backlash she'd received for testing the policy.  The former couture dressmaker has now resigned from her job as a bus driver after the temperatures this summer.  Records were broken by consecutive heatwaves, which saw highs of 35.1C in May and 38C in June. The previous record for the longest heatwave of 30C-plus temperatures, set during 1976, was also beaten.  Ms Pugh-Thomas, 50, reported colleagues vomiting from the heat in the buses they had to drive, which were at times 'hotter than the Sahara'.  She told the Telegraph that despite Mr Khan's claims to have resolved the problem directly with TfL, nothing changed for workers.  She said: 'Transport for London (TfL) and Sadiq Khan said to everybody that all the buses had air conditioning, and if they didn't have air conditioning, they had air cooling.  'But it was just too hot. There was no air conditioning, it did not work, and the temperature in my cab was 43C.'  She added that TfL drivers were 'told to drink a lot of water', but that 'you do sweat quite a lot of it out.  'But the drivers' seats are carpeted, and you'd get in and you'd sit on a completely sodden, soggy seat from another driver's sweat, which was disgusting.'  Videos shared to social media also showed drivers getting out of their cab during a journey to pour cold water over themselves in a bid to cool down.  One video went viral, showing a bus driver leaving a cab which had reached 36.8C and being showered by passengers trying to help with a bucket of cold water.  He made a plea to Sadiq Khan, calling on the mayor to do something about bus drivers' working conditions in the summer. He added: 'What temperature is your office?'  The Daily Mail contacted TfL and the Mayor of London for comment.