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A Tube driver has told how colleagues have been left angered by non-essential workers using the service as they try to "do their bit" to help NHS and emergency workers.

The driver told MyLondon that TfL staff are risking their health only to be 'slapped in the face' by the likes of construction companies still sending people to work.

He also warned that current levels of service are "unsustainable" and echoed Mayor Sadiq Khan's claim that services may have to be reduced due to staffing levels.

The Tube driver said: "We were all a bit surprised that so many people would be allowed to travel. We were expecting rush hour to be largely un-impacted and that has turned out to be the case.

"There's very little difference in the numbers around rush hour. We're still seeing the builders in the 'Hi Vis' jackets and paint on the trousers.

"We want to be playing our part to keep the country moving, but building a new office space for whoever isn't really what we want to be doing. But we know that mixed into that crowd are people who need to be there."

The driver said that fellow staff are putting themselves at risk and leaving their families to go to work when it would be safer for them to stay at home.

He said: "Our cab doors are not air tight, they're not locked. There's no way of locking them as it stands. So obviously anyone could walk into it. But even if they don't walk into it, anyone coughing or breathing - we don't have a separate air supply.

"We're the same air as anyone behind.

"And any time a train is put into a siding, which is a spare track we use to do things like turn around, we have to walk through the train. There's no other option - you have to use internal doors to go through them. So we have to touch everything.

"We're exposed to what people touch and what people breath, pretty much the same as passengers are."

He also weighed in over the debate around whether their should be more services.

He said: "Drivers think it's unsustainable. We already have a lot of drivers who are in isolation or who are off sick and there's going to be more. Non-essential workers have to stop. Yes having more services would work, but it's just not possible.

"I know what people's view of Tube drivers is, I had that view myself before I was one. We've all heard the London Underground song. Yes there are a lot of Tube drivers who moan - but in reality there are not many of us who are taking time off when they don't need it.

"If you can be in work at the moment, you are there. The trains that are running are all that we can get running at the moment. We're playing our part. The number drop has to come from somewhere else."

He also pleaded for people to be patient with drivers.

He added: "It is difficult. It affects us. We're not necessarily looking for the praise but if people could be more understanding if a train is late or if there's a problem that would help."

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Have you been affected by coronavirus in your part of London? If so, emailcharlie.jones@reachplc.com