“When you’re out there you think you’re the world’s best driver. Until you come into an environment like this. And that’s when you come down with a bang.” - Jim Johnston, bus training officer
This new six-part documentary series for ITV focuses on the ultra-competitive world of trainee London bus drivers.
With 20 applicants for every place on the intensive six-week course, the bus drivers’ school promises to be a gateway to a steady salary and a virtual job for life. First, however, the prospective drivers must learn how to safely negotiate a ten-ton bus through London’s overcrowded streets.
The trainees are filmed from the first moment they sit behind the wheel of a bus through a set of increasingly complex manoeuvres designed to test their abilities to the limit.
Those who make it through the early stages then face the toughest assessment of all – their bus driving test, a 90-minute examination. This will determine if the trainees have what it takes to achieve their dreams, and make it as a bus driver.
If they pass this ultimate test, then every crash, every stall, and every heart-in-mouth emergency stop over the six weeks has been worth it.
