Another coach crash!

[tbtc]

The bus obviously had Stagecoach branding on it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ad-horror-smash-lorry-collides-coach-fog.html

It even appears to have the Stagecoach logo above the door.

But on the updated BBC News Article this looks to have been Photoshopped out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17504353

I wish Stagecoach weren't allowed to run buses in non-Stagecoach liveries and trading names. It would certainly stop the public thinking that they are travelling on a local operators bus when they are in fact travelling on a Stagecoach run company, who are trying to get a bigger market share or push out the competition.

I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I think that this accident underlines why the big operators (Stagecoach, First etc) limit the number of working buses that they sell on to others/ insist that any such buses are fully repainted.

A lot of bus enthusiasts have grumbled about First/ Stagecoach not selling buses on (e.g. for preservation), but the repetitional damage that could happen in an accident like this when a bus (no longer run by Stagecoach) is crashed into is something.

 

[anthony263]

Stagecoach recently sold a couple of the Volvo B10M's which were based in Aberdare to a local bus operator but were told to repaint the vehicles and if they had to be used before repainting to make sure the stagecoach name was covered.

There was a case when someone was running a couple of ex Arriva vehicles in Bath/Bristol which when some passengers complained blaming Arriva who don't operate anywhere near Bristol anyway which they quickly pointed out.

 

[starrymarkb]

I've a funny feeling that as you approach Frankley services on the southbound, there are sections with no hard shoulder approaching overbridges (ie - goes straight from lane 1 to the grass verge) so to be fair, if the bus had lost throttle it's stopped in a quite unlucky spot.

It's unlikely this driver, employed by a fruit picking firm, would have the experience to deal with a situation like this which experienced drivers would recognise as a precarious position requiring evacuation.

If he's not put his hazards on, or has no PCV, he really ought to be jailed for involuntary manslaughter.

There is a lot of "no hard shoulder sections" where the motorway has been widened (Worcestershire would only pay for 2 lanes each way when the motorway was being built - further south (M42-M50 junctions) the widening was more expansive but also extremely expensive (basically a new carriageway was built parallel to the existing road - it cost 10 times the original build cost to widen that section)

 

[CC 72100]

Stagecoach recently sold a couple of the Volvo B10M's which were based in Aberdare to a local bus operator but were told to repaint the vehicles and if they had to be used before repainting to make sure the stagecoach name was covered.

There was a case when someone was running a couple of ex Arriva vehicles in Bath/Bristol which when some passengers complained blaming Arriva who don't operate anywhere near Bristol anyway which they quickly pointed out.

It makes sense that companies want to get there names off things ASAP when they are sold, to avoid any negative consequences for any possible future incident. Same happens in aviation industry, even when the plane is sat there, awaiting breaking up (at Mojave desert for example), all markings are covered over just in case something bad happens which the public may link to that airline, having negative effects on them.

I wonder what Virgin thought about their Mk3s going around in Virgin livery for Wrexham and Shropshire?

Anyway, enough rambling on and going off topic for now!

 

[GB]

, and should be turned off when heading towards oncoming traffic. Pretty much should be used in similar fashion to high beam headlights, but in fog!

Never ever heard that before and really doesn't sound right. The point of dipping the beam when you see on coming traffic is to avoid dazzling them. Fog lights in foggy conditions (and even in normal dry conditions to a certain extent) do not dazzle.

 

[richw]

Never ever heard that before and really doesn't sound right. The point of dipping the beam when you see on coming traffic is to avoid dazzling them. Fog lights in foggy conditions (and even in normal dry conditions to a certain extent) do not dazzle.

A bit of googling this, as my previous statement was something i have been led to believe but never been told formally, the google results all say something along the lines of:

If you're in an unlit area, on an undivided road, flip your fog lights off for oncoming traffic. Don't want to blind the other driver. The etiquette rules for fog lights are the same as for brights/high beams

I've a handbook for a VW Passat here, and it states that the fog lights should be switched off if any other traffic is within 50 metres, or at visibility if less.

 

[IanXC]

Never ever heard that before and really doesn't sound right. The point of dipping the beam when you see on coming traffic is to avoid dazzling them. Fog lights in foggy conditions (and even in normal dry conditions to a certain extent) do not dazzle.

Thats exactly what I thought, and what my driving instructor told me. The highway code seems to agree:

226
You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236).

236
You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.

 

[Schnellzug]

Stagecoach recently sold a couple of the Volvo B10M's which were based in Aberdare to a local bus operator but were told to repaint the vehicles and if they had to be used before repainting to make sure the stagecoach name was covered.

There was a case when someone was running a couple of ex Arriva vehicles in Bath/Bristol which when some passengers complained blaming Arriva who don't operate anywhere near Bristol anyway which they quickly pointed out.

The local company round here has recently acquired an ex Stagecoach Scotland (I presume) ALX200 Dart, which they've repainted, but it still has the Stagecoach interior trim. That's not the first ex Stagecoach one they've bought either. I do hope that this doesn't prompt Stagecoach to rethink its policy of selling vehicles on, and they hold on to them until they're worn out and then sell them for scrap, like First do.

 

[mbonwick]

You will generally find that Stagecoach sell through dealers - except in the case of preservationists.
It's in Stagecoach's interests to allow further sale, as they can get a few extra £000 for the vehicle.

Bear in mind that a dart SLF on sale from a dealership for £6k would probably have been purchased off Stagecoach for £2k max.

 

[anthony263]

You will generally find that Stagecoach sell through dealers - except in the case of preservationists.
It's in Stagecoach's interests to allow further sale, as they can get a few extra £000 for the vehicle.

Bear in mind that a dart SLF on sale from a dealership for £6k would probably have been purchased off Stagecoach for £2k max.

It also helps when Stagecoach have a good relationship with other local operators like here in Aberdare.

I know Stagecoach were offered help to keep their services running when a lot of the buses at the aberdare depot were destroyed by a fire which was started by teenagers.

At least 1 bus was only a few weeks old as well although luckily they just about managed to get buses from the other depots in Porth, Merthyr Tydfil for example.

 

[tbtc]

The local company round here has recently acquired an ex Stagecoach Scotland (I presume) ALX200 Dart, which they've repainted, but it still has the Stagecoach interior trim. That's not the first ex Stagecoach one they've bought either. I do hope that this doesn't prompt Stagecoach to rethink its policy of selling vehicles on, and they hold on to them until they're worn out and then sell them for scrap, like First do.

Oddly there's a (private) taxi in Sheffield with Stagecoach "beachball" fabric on its seats

 

[mbonwick]

Not this one by any chance?

 

[martinsh]

Get down off your high horse! I would love to know where Stagecoach operate a good number of vehicles in a 'special/local' livery?

Magicbus - Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow... (some not any longer)

 

[mbonwick]

Out of those, MagicBus only remains in Manchester.
I would hardly class that as a special or local livery; it's just a brand.....

 

[BestWestern]

Never ever heard that before and really doesn't sound right. The point of dipping the beam when you see on coming traffic is to avoid dazzling them. Fog lights in foggy conditions (and even in normal dry conditions to a certain extent) do not dazzle.

I would also have to agree there, if it's sufficiently foggy to be using fog lamps then they shouldn't dazzle. If you're using them inappropriately then you should expect to be pulled over!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

would the community bus rules cover this, if the operator can show they are providing a service for the workers for free, and the driver isnt paid for the driving time? If so a psv licence isnt required.

Not quite sure which rules these are, as far as I'm aware if you are driving a registered PCV then you need to be a qualified PCV driver, regardless of whether or not you get paid. The "Grandfather Rights" have some sort of rather vague and shady loophole, something along the lines of a bus more than, I think, 25 years old and carrying less than, I think, 8 passengers and not used for hire or reward, can be driven by a car licence holder, as long as they passed their test before the 'new' rules came in (1998?).

Unless they've radically changed it all in the past few years I'm not aware of any situation which would allow somebody who doesn't have a PCV licence to go tanking down the M-Way in a loaded bus! Indeed, things have generally got tighter rather than more lenient, and there are numerous often very daft restrictions on entitlements. For example a PCV will let you drive a double decker or even an 18 metre bendy bus, but will not allow you to go and hire a poky little 7.5 ton box van, despite a pre-'98 driver being able to do so with just a car licence. Even more daft, as a firm I know found out after buying a staff vehicle, if you hold an automatic PCV you can drive any auto bus or coach you like no matter how big, but you cannot legally drive a 17 seat Transit minibus if it has a manual gearbox! Again, the man with the 'old' car licence can drive it all day long though!

 

[mbonwick]

I'm assuming he's referring to a Section 19 permit, but that would still require the drive to hold a category D licence (ie. a PCV licence).