London bus drivers force citywide air-con climbdown after summer of 50-degree cabs

A groundbreaking deal that started with 1,500 Arriva North London bus drivers threatening to walk out over sweltering cabs has snowballed into a citywide commitment. Now, every bus operator in London, working alongside Transport for London (TfL) and the Greater London Authority, has agreed to fit air conditioning to all drivers’ cabs by May 2027.

The breakthrough caps a summer in which London recorded 40 days above 30 degrees Celsius, with Unite members reporting cab temperatures soaring as high as 50 degrees. Drivers described heatstroke, dehydration and fatigue, with some forced to stop mid-service because they simply could not continue.

It began with drivers based at Barking, Edmonton, Enfield, Grays, Palmers Green, Stamford Hill, Tottenham and Wood Green taking industrial action last month against Arriva North London over hot weather working conditions. Strikes due to resume on 7 September were called off after members voted to accept a new company-level deal.

Most London buses currently rely on air cooling systems rather than proper air conditioning – technology that only manages to knock two or three degrees off cab temperatures during a heatwave. Under the Arriva agreement, that will change by May 2027. Crucially, the deal also covers the gap before then, so if air conditioning isn’t working on a diesel or hybrid bus, drivers need only complete 35 minutes behind the wheel before the vehicle is pulled and returned to the garage, rather than being expected, in Unite’s words, to “carry on and sweat it out”.

The same 35-minute limit will apply in cold weather, cutting what was previously an hour-long minimum. Electric buses, whose systems work within minutes, are exempt from the rule. Any vehicle with a defective heating or cooling system must now be repaired before it can go back into service – closing off the practice of simply handing a broken bus to the next driver in line.

Unite has deliberately kept its strike mandate alive for 11 months, giving it the power to reballot and return to action fast if Arriva reneges, drags its feet on fitting air conditioning, or fails to deliver the “robust ongoing audit of heating and aircon systems” the deal promises, backed by fortnightly checks and timely repairs.

Within days, that local win had gone city-wide. Negotiating through an extreme weather taskforce alongside TfL, London’s bus operators and the Greater London Authority since earlier in the summer, Unite secured a commitment covering every bus operator in the capital – not just Arriva. Cabs across the network will also be fitted with UV protective film to cut the risk of skin cancer for drivers who spend entire shifts behind glass in direct sunlight.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said inadequate cooling systems had left drivers enduring “appalling conditions” over the summer, calling the citywide concession from TfL “an important win” in the union's wider campaign to improve conditions for bus workers “in London and beyond.” Unite, she said, would “leave no stone unturned to fight for workers”.

Unite regional officer Nadine Edwards welcomed what she called “a commitment for meaningful change,” but struck a note of caution, pointing to “years of false promises from the bus companies and TfL.” Unite would make sure the changes were “actually implemented in the timeframe that has been agreed,” she said. “We will not allow bus drivers to suffer through another hot summer.”

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab, who worked on the original Arriva dispute, said the union had secured “concrete immediate measures, ongoing action to ensure repairs are carried out in a timely fashion and a target for fitting all buses with air conditioning” – proof, he said, “of the value of collective union action.”