Many of London’s red buses refused to come to work today, as an industrial dispute over working hours intensified. The buses, many of whom are said to work 80 hour weeks – in breach of the European Working Time Directive – have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks, with a number 9 causing chaos by ‘accidentally’ breaking down across several lanes on Hyde Park Corner.
‘If they wanna call it deliberate, they can,’ said the bus. ‘But everyone knows that these things wouldn’t happen if we were allowed to work sensible hours.’
The buses are far from united on this matter. The immigrant German ‘bendy’ buses, brought in to bolster numbers earlier in the decade, seem happy to work the longer hours, and many were spotted ferrying commuters to their places of work earlier today.
Sandy, a veteran number 36 who has operated the New Cross to Queen’s Park route for nearly 15 years, expressed dismay that his partial routemate Kurt, a 436, would be breaking the strike.
‘I’ve worked ‘wiv im for years,’ said Sandy. ‘I can’t believe he’d betray us like this. Just goes to show you can’t trust the Germans, however long you know them. They can flip like that.’
The dispute continues.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 