Ever had an accident on a bus?

[WM Bus]

A car went into the side of 4111 (W411DOP) once at the Yardley Swan Island on a winter evening in 2013 while I was on it on the 11A.

Driver drove it Out Of Service back to the depot afterwards I think.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As either a passenger or a driver, have you ever been on a bus involved in an accident?

Yes, once.

Was on the "Aire Line" from Saltaire into Leeds, somewhere on the road (I don't know it well) some prat in a car pulled out in front without looking, and despite slamming on the brakes and swerving the bus hit the car and shunted it a bit to the side.

After enquiring as to whether we were "reet" in a broad Yorkshire accent, the driver kicked the bumper a bit, pulled a loose bit off, had a quick chat with the depot and, once the car had been (noisily, it had come off far worse) driven out of the way and details exchanged, the journey continued without further incident about 10 minutes late.

Possibly the most Yorkshire experience I've had in recent years I'm sure there would have been far greater faff down South.

 

[Darandio]

You wouldn't forget such an event. I saw the aftermath of a similar accident a dozen or so years ago when staying at my sister's place. It was made far worse by the fact that it was witnessed by the girl's mother from the car stuck in traffic that the teenager had just jumped out of. The physically uninjured driver was receiving attention from the London Ambulance Service as well, and we shouldn't discount the impact such occurrences can have on bus drivers, not just train drivers.

I'll never forget the actual event, it's impossible. Fine details about what I heard and thought at the time, a blur. Could have been shock at the time, i've no idea.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

Never had a proper crash as such (at least not that I can remember) but,

I was on a Harrogate B10 that caught fire near Bramham a few years back. Total write-off. Only thing left when the fire engines arrived was the chassis. Weirdly, I believe another bus (maybe a B7RLE) had a fire at the exact same spot a couple of years later.

I have only experienced a brick-through-window once. On a dark evening coming into Liverpool from Preston on the X2, listening to music then suddenly BANG. I s!#$ myself, thinking it was a gunshot or something... we were in Bootle after all. Thankfully I don't believe anyone was hurt, though there were a few people sat downstairs.

Apart from that, a few minor scrapes with cars and lost wing mirrors.

Anyone been on a double decker that's toppled?

Fortunately not, but have been very close. One memory stands out in my mind of being on a school trip on a (very bouncy) Geldards Olympian. We turned right from Spen Lane onto the Ring Road (Leeds) where the road dips at an awkward angle, doing about 25/30 MPH. As soon as we went round and the bus full of kids leaned greatly to one side I grabbed my mate's arm next to me and he shouted 'Get off p##f. Haha.

It must be a horrible experience to go through if it did happen.

 

[86247]

Only ever happened to me twice, first time was when I was a kid coming back on holiday in Towyn we were going through garden city by Queensferry and the car in front suddenly wanted to turn right and our shearings coach slammed in to the back off it.Second I was on a ribble B10M and a car didn't stop at a junction and hit the side of the bus by the engine.

 

[elbows47]

It wasn't a New Cross garage bus then?

No, a Plumstead (AM) RT on route 122A and another AM RT on route 99 ran into the back of us where the two routes joined at Plumstead Corner. Could have been a New Cross pre-war RT on loan to AM.

 

[OuterDistant]

Chester park and ride, 2004: a double decker had broken down on a roundabout, our driver's attempt to squeeze around it failed and left a big scrape down the side of our bus.

Did he stop? Did he heck. We all just quietly got off in town and pretended it never happened!

 

[Eyersey468]

I had a few scrapes early on in my driving career, the first was catching some railings as I pulled away from a stop. The railings in question are very close to the road and at the time they said to me I wasn't the first to hit them and won't be the last.

One that I remember one of my ex colleagues having was scraping a freshly painted bus on the doors at another depot and pulling them off the rollers. Funniest thing was he had been bragging about being an excellent driver just before he set off on that journey....

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Had only one crash which was on Stagecoach 14467.

When I was 9 or 10 I was travelling through to the dentist with my mum and there was roadworks at the garage in a town called Methven and due to the roadworks the bus had to cross onto the opposite side of the road but misjudged where the roof of the garage was and went straight into it.

Two of the side front windows were smashed as well as the front window.

 

[Richard Scott]

At least two I can remember. Route 90 in London on a Buslines Olympian when a dithering driver in a Vauxhall Astra was assisted in making his manoeuvre! The other was as a service station in Germany when a Hungarian lorry reversed and took mirror off of coach. Stuck for three hours with 45 school kids whilst repair man came out to fix it. Luckily the kids were well-behaved!
Friend of my relayed a story of how he heard a bang looked outside his window to see a National had converted a Ford Orion to an Escort!

 

[Busaholic]

When driving in London I put in 13 accident reports in 5 years, none of which were my fault these included:-

A passenger injured when I made an emergency stop after a cyclist rode straight out of a side road.
2 occasions when I had stones thrown through windows
2 occasions when my bus was parked in a station and I was not even on it
2 occasions when cars drove into the back of the bus when loading passengers
1 when a car came past me and immediately tried to turn left about a foot in front of me.
1 when a passenger cut his finger on a sharp edge on a sear back
1 when a 3 year old child fell down stairs, (really dont think they should be coming down stairs on a moving bus.
1 serious one when a stolen car hit a bollard in the middle of the road, lost control hit two other cars and then ended up embedded in the front of my bus.

I can't remember what the other 2 were but all theis was over 25 years ago

I was on Sicily once when the bus was involved in a minor accident with a car, police had to be called and every passenger had ID/passports checked, big hoo-ha for little scratch

Maybe one of the car's occupants was a person with significant local influence, shall we say, and was not best pleased.

 

[Roger1973]

No, a Plumstead (AM) RT on route 122A and another AM RT on route 99 ran into the back of us where the two routes joined at Plumstead Corner. Could have been a New Cross pre-war RT on loan to AM.

Never heard of it happening, but that doesn't prove anything. There was a brief spell when some Abbey Wood buses were outstationed at Plumstead, while AW was being rebuilt in 1952, and a New Cross bus that developed a defect in service towards the east end of one of the Woolwich routes might have ended up staying overnight at Abbey Wood or Plumstead and possibly helping out the following morning - although that would have meant swapping blinds to use it on anything other than one of the routes shared with New Cross so seems unlikely.

Although Plumstead and Abbey Wood were RTL garages until 1955, which is about the same time as the 'pre war' RTs were withdrawn from passenger service, and at that time, I'd have thought that giving a driver at an RTL garage an RT would have been a 'no'.

Plumstead and / or Abbey Wood did have a 'pre war' RT or two allocated after 1955, as Aldenham or Chiswick staff buses, so it's possible that one could have crept in to passenger service on a Saturday - I've never seen any photographs or references to it happening, but again that doesn't prove anything. I think I have seen photos of the Reigate based Chiswick staff bus venturing in to passenger service on a busy day (possibly when a lot of buses were out on extras for something like Derby Day.)

Just a possible thought - could it have been a Cravens bodied rather than pre-war RT? I can't visualise the platform of a Cravens RT, but having travelled on then once or twice at running days, it was striking just how much of them is 'nearly but not quite right' compared to a standard RT.


In answer to the original question, as a passenger -

Aged about 10, our coach back from weekly swimming at Ladywell Baths collided with the back of a lorry at fairly low speed (I was near the back and didn't see the circumstances) - nobody injured.

Some time in the 1990s, I was on a Selkent Mercedes / Wright midi that was at a bus stop and a car ran in to the back of it, not enough to do any damage to either bus or car.

Some other time in the 1990s when I was working for a rural county council's transport department, I was doing a travelling survey on a bus that a car driver tried to overtake as the bus was slowing to turn right. The bus was an ex Bournemouth Fleetline / Alexander, which ended up with a slight scratch. The car was an Austin Metro, and fortunately did not have anyone in the passenger seat, as the nearside ended up quite badly damaged.

 

[alex397]

In all my years of travelling on buses, I've never been involved in a major accident. Just the usual near misses and aggressive behaviour from other road users.

One minor incident that occurred though was when I was travelling on a rural route. Going through a village, there is a car park on the side of the road on a slight corner, with cars facing the road. Our bus managed to badly scrape the front of one of the cars, which was sticking out really far into the road, when we were slightly turning to the left. The driver was aware of this, and a passenger said to the driver as he was getting off at a nearby stop "that was a nice car once". The driver just continued on the journey though, so I have no idea if there were any repercussions!

 

[elbows47]

Never heard of it happening, but that doesn't prove anything. There was a brief spell when some Abbey Wood buses were outstationed at Plumstead, while AW was being rebuilt in 1952, and a New Cross bus that developed a defect in service towards the east end of one of the Woolwich routes might have ended up staying overnight at Abbey Wood or Plumstead and possibly helping out the following morning - although that would have meant swapping blinds to use it on anything other than one of the routes shared with New Cross so seems unlikely.

Although Plumstead and Abbey Wood were RTL garages until 1955, which is about the same time as the 'pre war' RTs were withdrawn from passenger service, and at that time, I'd have thought that giving a driver at an RTL garage an RT would have been a 'no'.

Plumstead and / or Abbey Wood did have a 'pre war' RT or two allocated after 1955, as Aldenham or Chiswick staff buses, so it's possible that one could have crept in to passenger service on a Saturday - I've never seen any photographs or references to it happening, but again that doesn't prove anything. I think I have seen photos of the Reigate based Chiswick staff bus venturing in to passenger service on a busy day (possibly when a lot of buses were out on extras for something like Derby Day.)

Just a possible thought - could it have been a Cravens bodied rather than pre-war RT? I can't visualise the platform of a Cravens RT, but having travelled on then once or twice at running days, it was striking just how much of them is 'nearly but not quite right' compared to a standard RT.


In answer to the original question, as a passenger -

Aged about 10, our coach back from weekly swimming at Ladywell Baths collided with the back of a lorry at fairly low speed (I was near the back and didn't see the circumstances) - nobody injured.

Some time in the 1990s, I was on a Selkent Mercedes / Wright midi that was at a bus stop and a car ran in to the back of it, not enough to do any damage to either bus or car.

Some other time in the 1990s when I was working for a rural county council's transport department, I was doing a travelling survey on a bus that a car driver tried to overtake as the bus was slowing to turn right. The bus was an ex Bournemouth Fleetline / Alexander, which ended up with a slight scratch. The car was an Austin Metro, and fortunately did not have anyone in the passenger seat, as the nearside ended up quite badly damaged.

I'm pretty certain it was not a Cravens - if I noticed a different platform area, I'm sure I would have noticed 5 windows instead of 4 ! The Cravens had all gone by the time I became properly interested in buses in 1959, just missing our local Bexleyheath trolleybuses. I did ride on a Cravens in 1964 staying with an aunt and uncle in Whitchurch and catching Red Rover RT1519 into Aylesbury.

 

[FrodshamJnct]

Yes, just once. The Magic Bus I was on going down Oxford Road in Manchester hit a guy just by where the University of Manchester maths tower was. I was sat close to the front and he ran across the road in front of us and hit the windscreen. I can still hear the sound. Fortunately we weren’t going more than 10-15mph and he was fine.

 

[ABB125]

Two minor things I can think of, both on coaches to school (and I think both occurred whilst I was in year 6!):

• At my village, at some point in the past the main road (a major A road on the Strategic Road Network) was moved away from the houses it passed, resulting in houses fronting onto the old road, with the new road beyond but parallel, with a hedge in-between. The bus stop was on the old road, adjacent to the turning onto the new road. The standard procedure was to turn in off the new road, pull a short distance up the old road, then reverse back down to the junction. Children board, then the bus departs back onto the new road, having effectively done a 3-point turn in a T shape (start and finish being on the vertical bit). Once, the bus reversed into a parked car, resulting in the rather amusing sight of a pyjama-clad resident arguing with the driver!
• The school in question is at one end of a linear village; most of the buses arrive from the far end. The main road has cars parked on both sides where it's wide enough, and none where there's no room. Never a dull moment when two convoys of buses meet in opposite directions! Anyway, on one occasion, the school bus I was on and one of the public buses which also served the school had a bit of an accident, with the driver side mirror being knocked off (I can't remember which vehicle was damaged). Fortunately, both were run by the same company, so after a quick chat, the drivers just carried on. I think we had the same driver as the other incident as well!

Also, not quite the same, but years later when I was traveling to the (a different) school sixth form by public bus, it broke down (well, a very annoying beeping noise started; the driver ignored it until all the stops from the final village before town had been called at, then at the next layby-style bus stop, pulled in, switch off the engine, and announced we weren't going any further.
Luckily, about 20 minutes later, there's a "school time extra" bus on the route (albeit a slightly different variation) (which members of the public can use, but in practice only ever has school children on it). It was arranged for everyone to travel on the second bus.
Now bear in mind that, by the time they reach the outskirts of town, both buses normally have a couple of standees. Thus, fitting two busloads into one was... rather tight. To the extent that people literally couldn't move. I deliberately was the last person to board, and could only just get on! We sailed past waiting passengers in town (because there was no way they could get on, and everyone was headed to the same place anyway). I counted I think 86 people on board. This was a mid-size Enviro E20D (in fact it was the one in the picture below), with a rated capacity of something like 72!
Fun times...

Astons, Worcester SN16 OGV, Alexander-Dennis Enviro in Evesham

At the High Street bus stand is Alexander Dennis Enviro E20D, acquired from Silcox of Pembroke Dock.

www.flickr.com

 

[rg177]

I've had a wee bump on an estate near me. The driver swung the B9 we were on a little too keenly around a right corner at a junction and clipped a van going straight on that had unexpectedly slowed. I just heard a scrape and all was very calm. Details exchanged, control informed and off we went.

 

[DorkingMain]

Was visiting a bus yard once in my car to discuss some rail replacement work. Managed to skid on some oil in the yard and crunch the side of a Volvo Olympian.

The Olympian came off worse than my car, which says something about the build quality of the later Olympians.

 

[175mph]

When our town centre was being redeveloped, several buildings, including the bus station were demolished and one building in particular at a road side of the road used by the buses to enter the station had scaffolding around it as part of the demolition works.

Some of it ended up collapsing and a bus happened to be passing by at the wrong moment and got a piece of the scaffolding stuck in one side.

I know it's not a very good quality picture, but it shows the rogue piece of scaffolding stuck into the unlucky bus and the extent of the damage caused.

 

[robertclark125]

I was on Fife Scottish Leyland Leopard WFS 150W in Glenrothes in 1990. A lorry changed lanes and then stopped unexpectedly. No one was injured, and the bus was repaired.

 

[philthetube]

I was on Sicily once when the bus was involved in a minor accident with a car, police had to be called and every passenger had ID/passports checked, big hoo-ha for little scratch

Maybe one of the car's occupants was a person with significant local influence, shall we say, and was not best pleased.

I think this was just normal practice in Sicily, none of the locals on the bus seemed surprised.

 

[Geordie driver]

I hadn't included minor mirror bashes in my accident portfolio, going over the High Level bridge to Gateshead and another bus coming the other way could be a bit hairy at times the say the least.

Another one, ex GM Fleetline, what a heap they were, lower rear side window came out, whole frame and glass, landed in the bonnet of a Citroen car going the other way, made a hell of a mess. I then noticed that all the Fleetlines we used had little alloy brackets pop rivvited around the frame to hold them in, must have been a common fault.

 

[Norton Bridge]

Twice, oddly both when the bus tried to pull around another vehicle which was turning right and caught the offside rear. First time was on a Crosville dual purpose National on the Cymru Coastliner in Towyn in 1976. The second more serous one was on a National Express Leopard from Cheltenham to Llandudno in 1980. It was low speed fortunately, but there was a lot of glass at the back. Our coach made it in to Shrewsbury bus station where an ambulance was called and a substitute vehicle provided by Midland Red.

 

[APT618S]

Several over the years but all minor at approx. 5mph or less.
On a Dales and District bus in Yorkshire on a narrow country road, we came upon an oncoming car on a blind corner, both car and bus braked sharply but we still had a head on bump. The bus was undamaged and continued its journey.

On a Wear bus (Go North East) a car went into the back of the stationary bus at a roundabout. The bus was undamaged and continued its journey.

A First Southampton bus went into the back of car at a junction. The bus was undamaged and continued its journey.

On the old TfL route 10, a new Routemaster I was on went into the back of another one at Euston Bus station. There was lots of shattered glass and alarms going off on both buses. Both buses were off the road for quite a while, according to London Vehicle Finder (LVF).

 

[Bristol LHS]

On a bus back from Bluewater, coming through Dartford in the dark, we got shot at several times by an air pistol, which managed to take out one of the windows on the Pointer Dart we were on. Driver checked everyone was okay and drove us on (with window open to elements) to the Arriva depot in Dartford where we were swapped onto another bus. I guess balance of risk re being stopped there like a sitting duck vs a short ride to the depot, and the short ride to the depot won out.

 

[bobslack1982]

On holiday in Turkey once and the coach we were on reversed at an oblique angle into a wall which someone was sitting on (facing the other way to the bus). The wall collapsed and appeared to land on this person’s leg. The engine cover on the rear offside was ripped open as a result. Not sure what happened after that as we were all bundled onto another coach to take us back to our hotel.

 

[Mothball]

I'm a bodymaker on the buses so accident damage is 90% of my job. I have attended hundreds of road traffic collisions (RTC) over the years and with a decent size fleet you can easily have one a day, mostly minor of course. I've only ever had one accident in a bus myself and that wasn't my fault.

The one that sticks in my mind was when I was with Stagecoach, Iwas on the bus on the way to work, 22324, when a oncoming car lost it on the corner and hit the bus head on. It was nothing serious - just a corner bumper, the headlight and fibreglass surround smashed. After the details with the other party I stayed on the bus to depot, got it into the garage and spent my shift fixing it. I got it finished about an hour before my shift ended and it went back out more or less straight away.

I clocked off at 1500, went to the bus stop to head home and what shows up to take me? The same bus.
Both my commutes and my full days work all on one vehicle.

 

[shopbford]

I hadn't included minor mirror bashes in my accident portfolio, going over the High Level bridge to Gateshead and another bus coming the other way could be a bit hairy at times the say the least.

I know not correct these days but there was always a set of white teeth that smiled as you went past.

 

[30907]

In the days of French Motorail at Calais you left your car in the parking lot and there was a shuttle bus to Ville station (don't remember which route). It very spectacularly backed into a lamp post in the middle of the car park, leaving it at a significant angle, and drove off... the lamp post was still bent a couple of weeks later when we came back.

 

[shopbford]

3 that spring to mind

1 - travelling back from South Shields to Sacriston followed a car near Boldon Coliery when it started to sleet. Driver decided to brake and bus went into back of car. I was most concerned about the driver as she was a whiter shade of pale. Seemingly she had just picked the car up from the garage after the self same thing happened 3 weeks earlier.

2 - coming back from Bishop Auckland driver coming towards a pedestrian crossing must have spotted an approaching mouse and decided to do an emergency stop. Rear end him only he gets upset as he'd just filled his tank up and I had split it.

3 - have to halt at bus stop outside Morrisons in Darlington where roadworks are in progress. Pull away to find plate over pothole not secured and front wheel goes in, looks as if it will just reverse out so do so. Metal plate comes out and ends up going through the fuel tank. End result bus has to be towed away, lots of fire engines for fuel spillage and deputation from Council to find out what happened - found blameless for this one.