Father-of-one Emeka Nyack-Ihenacho, who had been a bus driver for seven years, died on Saturday after contracting the virus

TRANSPORT chiefs were last night (Thursday) facing serious questions about their pledge to deep-clean buses amid the coronavirus crisis after a driver claimed he had been asked to work in a dirty front cabin stained by saliva, chewing gum and coffee spills.

Bus workers and unions have made urgent demands for extra protection after it was confirmed this week that at least 14 drivers across the country have died from the Covid-19 infection since the outbreak began.

Staff have kept on working through the lockdown to help key workers get to where they need to be as the crisis continues, but fears have grown about how this has put them at risk of the disease themselves.

In footage shown to the Tribune, driver Robert Murphy twice filmed a front cabin which appeared to have had only a cursory attempt at cleaning up – a contrast to London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s promise of “enhanced cleaning” that he made on Saturday.

A dirty bus features that in videos made by a driver to alert the public to conditions facing transport workers in the capital

The clips show the driving seat, wheel and controls still covered in stains, despite a system which is meant to see daily cleaning in a bid to protect staff from the coronavirus.

Mr Murphy, 37, who lives in Mildmay Street, Highbury, and has driven buses for 15 years, said he had seen no changes to the way cleaning was conducted before the virus outbreak, and added that drivers had been “left to defend themselves” when they go to work.

“It’s like I’m banging my head against a brick wall when it comes to talking to management,” he said. “I have just had enough. I want some sort of recognition that we need to be protected as drivers. I feel pretty guilty because we are getting passengers coming on the bus who have heard politicians saying these buses are clean when I know it isn’t.”

He added: “The buses are absolutely rotten.

“With the death of the drivers everyone is emotional and we can’t have empty words right now.

“It’s the polar opposite of what the politicians are saying. We haven’t seen anything change since this whole thing started.

“Honestly, at best we’ve had buses swept out. There’s also no masks and no gloves.

“We received sanitiser a few days ago but that has almost run out.

“We’ve been left to defend ourselves, really.”

Mr Murphy’s footage comes with commentary in which he urges Mr Khan to take action.

“This is a response to the deep-cleaning programme we seem to be having on all London buses, but you can see the marks, the coffee stains, whatever else they might be,” he says.

“All the buttons, all the touch points, I don’t know what that is: some sort of saliva. Crumbs around the dashboard, some sort of spillage or bodily fluid… underneath you can see the thick layers of dust haven’t been touched, nothing has been touched and this is just a rough look at one of the buses I’ve had to take.”

He added: “So, Sadiq Khan, if you want to respond to that… why our buses are piss dirty? Any response would be great.”

In London, nine bus drivers have so far died after contracting the virus, including Emeka Nyack-Ihenacho, 36, from Dartmouth Park, who passed away on Saturday. He drove buses from the Holloway Bus Garage depot, having switched careers from a previous job as a postal worker for the Royal Mail. Friends and family said they wanted people to remember the sacrifice he made, and to remember that he died “just doing his job”.

In a statement to the Tribune, his mother Anne Nyack and Tamara Carrick, the mother of Mr Nyack-Ihenacho’s son, said: “All bus drivers need adequate protective equipment provided to enable them to do their jobs and go home to their families safely.

“The virus is taking lives and leaving families in immense pain. He has left behind a mother, sister, son and best friend.”

After news broke of the first London drivers’ deaths on Saturday, Mr Khan promised “enhanced cleaning measures” would be put in place on all buses in the capital.

He said: “I’m absolutely devastated to hear that five London bus workers have tragically lost their lives after testing positive for coronavirus. My thoughts are with their friends and families at this awful time. I have been clear that our incredible public transport staff – on the buses, tubes, trams and trains – are critical workers, making a heroic effort to allow our NHS staff to save more lives.”

Mr Khan added: “All drivers in London buses are shielded by a Perspex screen and Transport for London (TfL) have ensured measures have been taken to keep staff as safe as possible, with enhanced cleaning, stopping passengers from riding near drivers and boosting social distancing at stations and stops. But we all need to play our part, too, and that means fewer Londoners using the public transport network. Please follow the rules.”

But unions representing workers said more needed to be done.

Unite’s regional officer for London buses, John Murphy, said the situation was “unacceptable”, adding: “The fact of the matter is that our drivers need to be clear that they are driving in a clean environment. It’s critically important that the buses are cleaned every day.

“We’ve demanded this from TfL.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Mr Murphy, who is no relation to the driver who showed the Tribune the bus footage, said: “My understanding is the bus operators are supposed to ensure that the cab is regularly cleaned every single night. Obviously this hasn’t happened.

“It’s not acceptable. Going forward we want to make sure that our stewards are aware of this and are calling out the operators. This is affecting London bus drivers disproportionately. We need to get this right and we need to up our game.”

He added: “It’s horrible at the moment. I was a bus driver for 20 years, and I know these people. London bus drivers are heroes, but if we expect them to be on the frontline of this, then we need to make sure they are safe – and they need to be sure in the knowledge that they are safe.”

TfL has also said it is using “enhanced disinfectant” in depots and drivers’ cabs, which previously were “regularly cleaned with traditional disinfectant”.

It said it will trial a new system where passengers only board by the middle doors to limit how close they get to drivers.

They will also be actively discouraged from taking seats close to the front cabin.

“The trial will assess how the change works in live operations and whether it causes any issues,” a statement about the measures said.

Tom Cunnington, head of bus business development at TfL, said: “I’d like to reassure all critical workers and bus drivers that every single bus is cleaned before it enters service each day, in addition to daily applications of anti-viral fluid.

“We’ve been very clear with operators that this must happen, and it is happening. It is the anti-viral detergent fluid that provides the protection from coronavirus, rather than the regular sweeping and litter-picking on buses. Sadly, there may be occasions when litter or marks are left on a bus while it is in service, but if passengers and drivers report anything they see, it can be dealt with as soon as possible.”