Anyone know what happened in this serious truck crash in Glossop today ?

[Mr Manager]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efIFawe9rzY&sns=em
[youtube]efIFawe9rzY[/youtube]

At the Request of Yorkie.

This is a Stagecoach Alx that was being recovered when something went very wrong and the recovery truck and the Alx ended up embedded in a parade of shops yesterday in Glossop Derbyshire. the Video is safe for work. or a link to the bbc website here . Thanks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-27496756

 

[bussnapperwm]

Apparently the brakes went on the truck and the truck driver drove into the shops to avoid hitting cars at a nearby junction according to the Glossop News

 

[Mr Manager]

Quick update with better photos and a fleet number

http://www.glossopgazette.co.uk/lat...uck-crash-into-shop-fronts-on-victoria-street

A tow truck driver called Mick was hailed as a hero last night after his brakes failed while towing a single decker bus from Hayfield. According to eye witnesses, Mick flashed his lights and sounded his horn as he careered down Charlestown Road and Victoria Street with sparks flying from his brakes, and avoided the high street junction by crashing into the Victoria Street shops.

The bus hit the Red Dragon takeaway (which had just been renovated) and Padtax (which has never been renovated and is universally considered the scruffiest shopfront in Glossop) while the tow truck stopped just before the junction with the High Street, between the lamppost and the dog? shop that used to be a travel agents . Miraculously, the only injuries were Mick's wrist and unspecified minor injuries to his passenger....

 

[34D]

Wow. An argument for control of the service brake (rather than just handbrake release) if ever I saw one.

 

[455driver]

with sparks flying from his brakes

So the brakes were working then!
I cant wait for the report on this one to be published!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Wow. An argument for control of the service brake (rather than just handbrake release) if ever I saw one.

What makes you say that?

 

[34D]

What makes you say that?

Would produce double the brake force (approx).

 

[455driver]

Would produce double the brake force (approx).

So you think a bus on a suspended tow (with one axle in the air hence the use of the word suspended) would produce as much brake force on its one remaining axle as a 3 axle heavy lift recovery vehicle do you?

What is to stop that axle from locking up and the bus slewing around in all directions?
How are you going to equalise the air pressure (to stabilise the brake force) between the tow truck (with its rather big brakes that will need quite a bit of air pressure) and the comparatively small brakes on the bus (which won't need as much air pressure) so the bus brakes don't get too much air pressure and lock up?

Overall it's easier to have the bus as a swinger.
When it's towing a 40 tonne artic the brakes will be similar spec to the tow truck so all the brakes will be used, something not likely to happen with a little bus.

 

[mbonwick]

To be fair, the bus (being MAN based) is actually likely to be similar to a truck than you think.

A good proportion of the compontents in MAN buses (especially wiring looms) are common between truck and bus, with truck-only connectors etc blanked off in buses.

 

[34D]

So you think a bus on a suspended tow (with one axle in the air hence the use of the word suspended) would produce as much brake force on its one remaining axle as a 3 axle heavy lift recovery vehicle do you?

What is to stop that axle from locking up and the bus slewing around in all directions?
How are you going to equalise the air pressure (to stabilise the brake force) between the tow truck (with its rather big brakes that will need quite a bit of air pressure) and the comparatively small brakes on the bus (which won't need as much air pressure) so the bus brakes don't get too much air pressure and lock up?

Overall it's easier to have the bus as a swinger.
When it's towing a 40 tonne artic the brakes will be similar spec to the tow truck so all the brakes will be used, something not likely to happen with a little bus.

There has to be a way to gradually apply the brakes on the rear axle, even if only as an emergency feature.

 

[Mr Manager]

That is what is puzzling me. If the recovery driver had it on suspended tow he would be working the brakes on the bus from his foot brake via a red and yellow Suzie air line's connected to the bus usually under the front grill via a connector. If for some reason the bus became detached from the wrecker boom. Then the red air line snapped the brakes on the bus should have applied automatically. Which begs the question was it on a straight bar tow with a 2nd person steering and braking the bus ?. If yes then the engine on the bus must have been running to maintain air pressure. if not eventually the air would get low and apply the brakes on the bus.