Shattered Brits are falling asleep on public transport across the country in a phenomenon known as ‘fly kipping’.
Transport companies are now training drivers and employees how to deal with those who wake up in a state of confusion after nodding off on public transport.
Andy Kennedy, from the Black Country, said: ‘I keep on fly kipping all of the time because I am so knackered.
‘I suffer from sleep apnea so always know when I’ve been sleeping because all those people sitting round me have moved because of my snoring.’
A London Midland Trains spokesman said: ‘All our conductors have to check every carriage at the end of the line in case any passenger has fallen asleep. It is part of our routine now.’
London Midland is hoping to introduce new technology which could alert passengers via their headphones that their station is approaching.
Union bosses claim people are working harder than ever before in Britain – leaving them susceptible to ‘fly kipping’.
Tim Roache, GMB general secretary, said: ‘It’s no wonder people are knackered.
‘Too many workers struggle on low pay, often working more than one job to pay the bills.’
He added: ‘Long hours and long commutes, juggling family life and childcare, too many in insecure work and not knowing what hours you’ll get tomorrow or next week – it takes its toll, and not just in having a kip on the bus or between stops on the train.
‘It takes its toll on your whole life.
‘If politicians are serious in this election about helping working people, they’ll make sure work pays and that people have secure jobs and proper rights when they’re there.’
One London fly kipper, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I’ve got two jobs now and if I don’t sleep on the commute from one to another I would be like the walking dead at my second job.
‘I did worry about being assaulted but nobody seems to bother me, and I know I am not the only fly kipper because I see people asleep everywhere these days.’
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