BUS drivers have been told to turn off their contact tracing app while in work, prompting fears for their safety.

A source told the Glasgow Times that First Bus drivers were being asked to deactivate their contact tracing app while driving because it might generate false positives.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that she thought First should be “doing more to protect drivers”.

The company said it was following guidelines from the Scottish government and that drivers were safe behind protective screens.

Andrew Jarvis, First Bus’ managing director in Scotland said: “On the advice of the Scottish government, we were told to tell drivers to switch off the Bluetooth on their mobile device while driving and in the cab of their bus in service.

“If a driver were to have a passenger sit above them upstairs in a double decker, who is subject to a positive test or being tracked and traced via the app, then that driver would wrongly be classed as having been within two meters of that person and would have to self isolate wrongly for 14 days.”

This is in line with the Scottish government’s workplace exemptions for the app.

Frontline health workers in full PPE are also discouraged from having the app activated in work because they will come into contact with people with coronavirus but will not have to test themselves for each of these.

The government’s official guidance states that workers who are “protected by a fixed physical barrier from customers and colleagues for the majority of the working day” do not need to use the app when on the job.