Have you ever been in a situation where you needed the toilet but could not go?
We’ve all been at work when all of a sudden you need the toilet. And whilst you often don’t need to panic, the situation is different if you can’t go straight away.
When nature calls, and forces us to make a speedy retreat, most of us can easily break off, unless you’re mid-presentation. But it’s a whole other story for bus drivers – at least if they want to pop to one common place to head to the loo.
For drivers of London’s public transport services, loo breaks have to be taken seriously, because opportunities for relieving oneself are few and far between. In a Reddit forum, a London bus driver happily answered questions from the public about the dos and the don’ts of the job, and one question touched upon this very subject, reports MyLondon.
A reader asked them what we’ve all often thought: “How do you handle bathroom breaks?” The answer? Go to the toilet anywhere – but not in a pub.
The driver said: “We have toilets at either end of the route usually, but if you’re caught short, you can call the controller over the radio and they know of spots across the routes for you to hop out and use – usually a bookies or McDonald’s.
“Interestingly, drivers years ago could use a boozer. However, understandably, people were getting worried when their drivers were hoping out mid route and popping in the pub for 5 minutes, so now we’re forbidden to enter a pub in any uniform.”
The driver also shared pearls of wisdom when responding to other queries from the public. One person asked, “What do you do when a stinky rider gets on?”
The driver responded: “Open the windows and carry on.” Another person asked: “Has anyone ever defecated on your buses?”
“No, however it’s usually a daily occurrence for people to chuck up their kebabs on a night shift after a heavy one,” answered the driver.
And his biggest pet peeve? Motorists attempting to undertake buses before they pull into stops.
The bus driver explained: “Seriously, it’s so dangerous to undertake any vehicle but even more so a vehicle that’s 35-40 foot long and weighs 11 tonnes. My first accident was because some boy racer tried to undertake me and got crunched against the curb whilst I was pulling into a bus stop, we have mirrors but they don’t solve the huge blind spots.
“For cyclists, I’d rather they didn’t go round me at a bus stop because it’s an absolute mission to go round them, and you just end up leapfrogging each other. However, we must share the road so do what you want I suppose.”
Transport for London has been approached for comment.