BUS DRIVERS' HOURS

That this House notes that bus drivers work four hours more but are paid 14 per cent less a week than the average UK worker; further notes the two different sets of regulations applying to bus drivers, domestic and European, limit driving to 5.5 hours and 4.5 hours respectively before legal entitlement to a break; believes that the current mix of bus drivers' hours regulations prevents effective enforcement and forces bus drivers to work longer than is either safe or healthy; supports the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union campaign for European regulations on drivers' hours to cover all commercial journeys by passenger carrying vehicles in the UK; and calls on the Government to reform bus drivers' hours regulations to ensure that bus drivers are legally entitled to a break after 4.5 hours of continuous driving, with no reduction in pay, which would be a significant step toward ending the culture of excessive working hours for low pay that has taken root since deregulation of the UK bus industry in 1985 when bus drivers' pay was seven per cent above the average weekly wage.