"Someone spat at me": London bus driver terrified he'll catch coronavirus
10 April 2020, 13:09
"Someone spat at me": London bus driver terrified he'll catch coronavirus
This East London bus driver told Shelagh Fogarty how he's "putting his family's lives in peoples' hands" after being spat and coughed at while working.
Tony and his wife have a young daughter so have changed their lives in response to the pandemic.
However driving a bus he feels he's putting his life in peoples' hands who are not responsible - people are behaving so badly he's keeping a log in case "something happens to him."
"I do a long route and I see people carrying on like it's normal," Tony said, telling Shelagh how he's seen groups of people drinking, school children mixing together.
"One day in the week I had someone spit because I said they couldn't sit on the chairs right behind me... they were spitting on the floor and on to the seats," he said.
"Today I had a lady cough in my face and it's scary," he said, "I told my wife I'm probably going to catch this and I hope it's later down the line and I hope it's not severe.
"I've convinced myself it's only a matter of time."
His bus company say they steam clean the buses each day but he's bringing his own disinfectant to work his cloth ends up black with dirt.
"I can do whatever I can to be responsible for me and my family but I am actually putting my life in people who have never been responsible in their life, who just don't care," Tony said.
While he can refuse to open the door to big groups, he feels unable to because there may be others at the bus stop who need the transport.
Tony said he's even going to start wearing a body cam.
