By SCOTT MacLEOD
City bus drivers claim they have to dart behind trees to urinate because they rarely get the chance to visit toilets.
Some say passengers have spotted them using bushes while other drivers are complaining of problems with their "water works" because they hold on.
Safety regulators said yesterday that it was up to bus companies to ensure their drivers had toilets, but an industry umbrella group says councils should provide them.
Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt said few city terminals had toilets, and drivers sometimes had to use large trees or the back wheels of their buses.
Their problems were all the more pressing because by law they could be required to work 5 1/2 hours without a break.
Mr Froggatt said the union felt it was a health and safety issue, and would discuss the problem with the national safety manager of Stagecoach next month.
Similar problems have been reported in Christchurch, where drivers are considering placing portable toilets beside roads to force the issue.
But Stagecoach's national operations director, Darryl Bellamy, said toilets and other facilities in bus terminals had traditionally been owned by councils and Stagecoach tried to discourage their removal.
Mr Bellamy said drivers had toilet access at certain times. While Stagecoach did not like them stopping en route, it realised that occasionally they had no choice.
An Auckland City Council spokeswoman said it was more a matter for the regional council, which contracts out bus services.
But the Auckland Regional Council said it was legally forbidden to own such facilities.
Occupational Safety and Health staff could not find any complaints. But spokesman Justin Brownlie said: "A wee part of the regulations says that the employer is responsible for providing toilets."
Pressing problem drives bus men behind trees
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