Adapting to global heating: which UK public services are struggling in hot weather?

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London bus drivers plan to go on strike later this month over their working conditions, as many have been experienced cab temperatures reaching close to 40C in the recent heat. Most London buses are fitted with air-flow cooling systems rather than air conditioning. Sadiq Khan, the mayor, has said drivers should not be working in unsafe hot conditions, but Arriva, the private operator, has said it will take time to update its fleet.

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This year’s harvest could be the worst on record, analysis published on Wednesday found, as the third year running of drought in England left farmers with dry soil and damaged crops. Cereals and oilseed yields could be down as much as 2.5m tonnes across the UK, worth £390m in lost revenue for arable farmers, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank. Livestock farmers are also under pressure: grass growth has halved, forcing some to use feed they had hoped to save for winter.

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The UK does not have a maximum legal temperature for workers, and employees have struggled, particularly those working in poorly repaired public buildings. Court cases have been disrupted, with one judge in Bristol telling a jury in July they had to listen to a defendant through a virtual link because the dock was unusable in the heat.

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Pupils are off at the moment, escaping the stuffy classrooms that reduced some to tears in the summer term, but some of the inequalities in the UK’s education system continue: the Guardian revealed that private schools were continuing to water their lawns, despite hosepipe bans covering close to half of England and some of Wales.

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