London bus driver resigns as she hits out at Sadiq Khan's claims drivers can refuse to work amid soaring temperatures

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Antonia Pugh-Thomas, who claimed her cab had no air conditioning, allowing temperatures to reach 43C, has hit back at the London Mayor's claim that buses with broken air conditioning are taken out of service.

Sir Sadiq stated on LBC: '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," he said.

Read More: 'Too hot? Don't drive that bus': Sadiq backs bus drivers as he brands stifling working conditions 'unacceptable'

Read More: New heat health alert issued for parts of UK as temperatures set to soar

But many drivers still complained in recent weeks of having to work in extreme heat - and with no air conditioning, while Unite, the trade union, has said that some cabs “resemble greenhouses”.

Ms Pugh-Thomas, 50, 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.”

Ms Pugh-Thomas said she had watched friends "go grey from the heat,” and "get up and throw up. As for the members of the public, I mean, at least they had the option to get off, but we really hadn’t," she told The Telegraph.

“Then you’re told to drink a lot of water, and yes, 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.

This summer has already experienced four heatwaves, with a fifth predicted for next week.

When Ms Pugh-Thomas tried refusing to drive a bus with broken air conditioning, she was told she had no choice and that it was fitted with 'air cooling,' a fan system which blows already hot air around the cabin.

She said she was shocked at the backlash she'd received for testing Mr Khan's policy.

“Oh my merry God!” she said. “I mean, I was surprised I was still alive, the amount and the height of the waves it had caused.”

The former couture dressmaker has now resigned from her job because of the intense summer heat.

It comes after bus drivers told LBC that cooling units are often faulty, while older buses have ineffective cooling systems, such as fans that blow hot air. One driver said the "twist" is that they "don’t specify it needs to work".

There is no legal maximum temperature that London bus cabs are allowed to reach, which can quickly become extremely hot due to the greenhouse effect created by the glass screens flanking drivers.

One driver told LBC "even with working AC, it was so hot in the cabin that I had to park it up in the shade for 20 minutes to cool down.”

Most London buses are also not fitted with full passenger air conditioning. Transport for London claims that high energy usage, increased fuel consumption, and the option of openable windows are reasons why air conditioning for passengers was avoided, according to the Daily Mail.

Lorna Murphy, TfL's Director of Buses, told the paper: "We are working together on a range of measures to further improve working conditions, health and wellbeing".

"We are committed to ensuring that all staff have a fair work schedule, with safe vehicles and access to the facilities they need to carry out their roles effectively. We regularly engage with Unite the Union on these matters.