I'm playing devil's advocate here, as in general I think bendibuses did have a place in London's bus scene, but I believe there was a cycling fatality caused by an artic. It was in January 2005 in Oxford Street, almost opposite Bond Street tube, in the late afternoon. I came out of the tube station intending to go to Selfridge's and found the road closed, including the pavements on both sides, and saw a badly-mangled bike and various paramedics,etc, and the Police CSOs shepherding people. A route 73 artic was the only vehicle there, doors wide open but everyone evacuated including the driver. Later, in Selfridge's having a cup of tea, I heard staff say that the cyclist had died: apparently the air ambulance had managed to land nearby but had been sent away again. Two or three years later, I was having a conversation in my shop with someone (Ben Webster) who was at the time the Transport Correspondent of the Times newspaper and the subject of bendibuses came up - he had heard directly from the mouth of Peter Hendy that no cycling fatality had happened as a direct result of artic operation and I told him of my experience. He asked me to furnish all particulars so he could tackle PH on it and, after a bit of research, I was able to and passed the info on. I never heard back, and shortly afterwards he moved from transport to another briefing. I also believe the London Omnibus Traction Society, of which I'm a member, reported the accident in their newsletter as a fatal one, with the bendi in question being impounded by the police. How this will have been recorded in TfL statistics, though, is another matter.
Having said all that, I believe we'll get articulated buses back in London in the next ten years, in electric form, and maybe even in the form of a trolleybus.
