42 MPs call for ‘Death-in-Service’ payments to be extended to ALL transport workers
42 MPs have written to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, urging him to extend the £60,000 NHS ‘Death-in-Service’ payments to all transport workers after it was reported that a total of 42 Transport for London workers had died after contracting COVID-19, as well as an additional 10 Network Rail workers.
A number of taxi and private hire drivers are also believed to have succumbed to the deadly virus around the UK.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, led by MP for Ealing Central & Acton, Rupa Huq, and backed by 42 MPs including Jeremy Corbyn and Wes Streeting, calls for sufficient funding to be made available to ensure Personal Protection Equipment is available to all transport workers and operators and the ’Death-in-Service’ payment scheme to include all transport workers were requested.
According to latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics, taxi drivers, private hire drivers and chauffeurs are among those most likely to contract and die from COVID-19 based on their occupation.
The data shows road transport drivers, including male taxi and minicab drivers had some of the highest rates of death from the virus.
The data, an overview of coronavirus-related deaths by occupation, analysed deaths among those aged 20 to 64 years in England and Wales.
Analysts broke down occupations into nine major groups, which then subdivide into 25 sub-major groups.
Within the road transport sector, considered a major group at a more granular level, taxi and private hire drivers, including chauffeurs, had the highest rate of deaths, with 36.4 deaths per 100,000 males (76 deaths).
The figure exceeds deaths occurred in other areas of the transport sector including bus and coach driving occupations.
Figures show bus and coach driver deaths were at 26.4 deaths per 100,000 males, with van drivers and those driving large goods vehicles making up the list of transport workers most likely to contract and die from an illness involving COVID-19.
Image credits: Pixabay/Twitter @RupaHuq
