Ro Frimpong, 29, worked as a London bus driver from 2014 until 2018. Here, she tells Ella Braidwood how she used to let homeless people stay on her bus, having experienced homelessness herself
My mum had problems with my sexuality and asked me to leave, so that’s how I became homeless. I guess, because I have a baby, it was easier for me: the council put me in temporary accommodation, they paid the rent. But I still had to pay the bills.
There was a bus garage next to my house, so I applied for a job there and that’s how I got into bus driving. Even though I was a single mum, I had to find childcare – bus driving is shift work – and that’s how I ended up on nights, because then I was able to do school runs.
While I was training to do night shifts, there would always be the same people getting on at the same stops. I could see that they had nowhere to go. Literally, the money that they use on their Oyster cards, for them, it’s like rent money.
When you do night shifts, you can be waiting in the bus stand for up to 30 minutes. So, instead of making them wait outside at the next bus stop, I used to let them stay on the bus with me, even though I wasn’t supposed to. I’d keep the heating on or, if they were sleeping, turn off the lights. If they were awake, I’d talk to them and hear their stories. Sometimes you could tell that you were the only person that had had a conversation with them for the whole day. I was just happy to be that person for them.
If I was going to McDonald’s, I’d ask if they wanted something as well. I got to know their orders. Mostly, all they wanted was a coffee and an egg McMuffin, because it was pretty much the cheapest meal. They didn’t want to seem like they were bothering you.
One of them was an elderly man called Andrew, who was severely disabled and on the streets. He used to get on at Trafalgar Square, and he would ride the buses until he could get off and get a breakfast at Canning Town. That was his daily routine.
He told me that he had a wife, but the marriage had broken down, and they had a property but she lived in it and he had been kicked out. He said he had been going to councils and shelters, but he just couldn’t get anything as, officially, he had a property.
There was also a family used to get on. There were three of them: a mum, dad and a child. They used to have all their bags with them. They would only stay on for one round and then they would move on to somewhere else.
There was also a young guy who I knew by his nickname “Scratch”. He looked about 21 or 22. I think, because we were quite similar in age, he stuck out to me the most. Apart from the lady that was part of the family, everyone else was a man. I think they’re not seen as vulnerable, but they’re just as vulnerable as women.
I felt bad. I just thought, in this country, how does that happen? It was always vulnerable people. The situation got worse with time. In the beginning, it was one or two and you wouldn’t see them every day. By the time I finished being a bus driver in 2018, almost every night, there was at least one person on the bus. But I would say about three to four were on most nights.
As a bus driver, I wasn’t even allowed to let them stay on the bus like that. But, as human beings, you just know that if it’s pouring down with rain, where are they going to go? You have to make somebody feel like a human. In this day and age, it’s unacceptable. I don’t think the government is doing enough to tackle this issue.
Now, I’m doing a podcast and I also work in the railway industry. Still, I often think about them: I wonder how they’re doing; I wonder if anyone is going to get them a cup of coffee now.
The fee for this article will be donated to homelessness charity Shelter
