Bus companies are putting the public at risk with “dangerously long” hours for drivers, say union chiefs.
And MPs are now being urged to back a private member’s bill capping drivers’ hours.
It is legal for drivers on local routes to do 10-hour days, with a half hour break after 5.5 hours driving and just one day off a fortnight.
Long-distance drivers can only do 56 hours a week or 90 hours over two weeks.
The RMT union and MPs want the same restrictions for local bus drivers, with a mandatory break of no less than 45 minutes after 4.5 hours of driving.
In 2015, a bus crash in Coventry killed two. The driver had worked more than 70 hours the week before the crash.
Local Labour MP Matt Western said: “Our laws on the working hours of bus drivers are not keeping the public safe.
Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: “The safety of passengers and staff alike is compromised.”
Andy McDonald, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “Labour supports a review of bus drivers’ hours.”
