Worried pensioner complains about heating as passengers are ‘nearly collapsing’ in hot Chesterfield buses

Geoff Whitley, 80, a pensioner who lives in the town and uses public transport daily complained to a Stagecoach driver and asked if they could switch off the heating.

He said: “The weather is very warm now and the heating in the buses is on.

"Many people who take public transport are a bit older. I have seen passengers nearly collapsing.

“Me and my wife live in Chesterfield and sometimes we need to take a bus a few times a day. But temperature inside is just not tolerable this year.”

He added: “They explained it is not like in a normal car where you would put your hand forward and turn the switch. This is something they have to do in a garage before the bus starts its route.”

Mr Whitley said the issue has been ongoing for the entire summer and he has repeatedly asked the drivers and Stagecoach for an explanation as to why they cannot turn the heating off.

But a spokesperson for Stagecoach Yorkshire said the heating had been turned off.

They added the hot air blowing into the bus was due to the heat outside coming through the heating system.

They added: “With the unprecedented weather conditions we have had this summer, customers may find that on particularly hot days, temperatures on our services are higher than usual.

“Our heating systems are turned off on all our vehicles during the summer months but due to the system blowing through ambient air temperature, it may feel warmer than usual as a result of the outside temperatures.

“If any of our customers feel like there could be a heating issue on their service, we ask that they contact our customer service team so that we can investigate this further and resolve any technical issues if needed.”