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Weather latest: French bus drivers wear skirts to get around ban on shorts during heatwave

French bus drivers have started wearing skirts to get around their bosses' ban on shorts in recent stifling heat.

France sweltered in temperatures up to 38C this week as the country's weather authority warned people to be "very vigilant" for danger posed by the weather.

Bus drivers in the western city of Nantes, who belong to the CFDT union, said their uniform was "not appropriate" for such high temperatures and that they "envy women at moments like this".

"Given that skirts are an authorised outfit in the company, we are wearing skirts," one driver told the local Presse Océan site.

Union official Gabriel Magner said: "A modern outlook would allow us to wear long shorts from time to time.

"This is a form of discrimination. Women drivers can wear skirts, but not the men.

"In this heatwave, the temperatures are reaching close to 50C behind our windscreens.

"And given we have no air conditioning on our buses, it’s unbearable."

The bus company, Semitan, did roll out a new set of lighter summer trousers last year, it was reported, but did not appear to be moving toward allowing shorts.