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Ever had an accident on a bus?

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driver9000

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I had a few during my time driving buses, two of which were serious. A drunk driver overtook me on a dark, wet road and ploughed into a wall spinning the car back into my path but I was unable to pull up in time before hitting the mangled wreck of the car. The occupants had to be cut of the remains and the driver ended up in a wheelchair. I was later involved in a full head on collision with a Peugeot 205 while driving a Volvo B10 along a country road. The car was travelling too fast and skidded out of control and went straight under my feet, luckily for the driver he escaped serious injuries.

Neither crash was my fault.
 
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Statto

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Mostly scrapes, such as bus hitting a wing mirror, on an X8 Liverpool-Chester a couple of years ago, bus was clipping every kerb when cornering, more to poor driving from the bus driver as the roads are wide enough for a bus to corner without hitting the kerb, then hitting every kerb going around Cheshire Oaks complex, which the bus ended up side scraping a car, everyone was ok, but bus driver stopped the bus at the next stop & swapped details with the car driver.
 

peterblue

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I was a passenger on a bus in Cheshire which had a minor scrape with a car. Fortunately, it was nothing serious and no one was injured. Details were swapped and everyone went on their way after a short delay.
 

Blindtraveler

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Various minor prangs as a passenger, one cyclist was hit but his bike sustained more damage and he did but the most notable one 14 me was slightly elderly underpowered trident meets kill her up hill climb on a wet Saturday morning. Revving like mad to try and get up this gradient and at about the halfway point we simply could not retain forward momentum and started rolling backwards. The outcome of this was somewhat inevitable and involved redesigning the front end of a people carrier parked at the bottom of the road
 

Busaholic

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I've had an accident WITH a bus, rather than on it. My first car, an old Cortina Mk 1 Estate was backended by a London Routemaster in 1981 - it cost LT the £350 I'd paid for it weeks earlier, not that they admitted liability!
 

TechDan2002

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It happened to me on a first Glasgow bus. I fell right down the stairs but luckily I wasn't injured.
Same here. I was on a bus last year going past Cornwall by Kernow’s Summercourt depot and let my enthusiasm get the better of me by going upstairs to have a nose at what buses were parked up inside. On the way back down I lost my footing and slammed into the handrail at the bottom cracking a rib. Thankfully I only experienced mild soreness and was totally fine after a few weeks.

Aside from my moment of stupidity above I’ve been on a Trident that struck a tree smashing the top deck front window but nothing more major than that.
 
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Iron Girder

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When I was at school, I was on the school bus and the rear clipped a car but just kept driving. When I tried to notify the driver he didn't say anything back!
I worked in a school, and going into work one day, I was the car that the back end of the bus sideswiped, putting quite a dent in the shapely rear wing of my car. The driver appeared not to notice, despite a lot of people shouting and waving (for some reason, people seem to get quite aerated when buses start bashing into things at a school gate with dozens of kids milling around ).

I knew which company operated the school buses, so phoned it in to the transport manager, who said he'd inspect the bus on its return. He called back later - "Is your car black?". Apparently, there was a fair bit of black paint on the rear of the nice cream bus .

I was asked to take the car into the garage, and they offered to do the repair, which I agreed to, and I have to say that they did a bang-up job. I think the wheel arch had already got a small ding, which was gone when I got the car back 24 hours later.

When I expressed my thanks, the TM did mention that they'd spoken to the driver, that he had denied the collision, despite a gazillion witnesses, and...well, he didn't say what had happened, but he clearly regarded the failure to stop as an aggravating factor and said that the driver had been "spoken to". I have a feeling tea and biscuits were not a part of that conversation.

Some while later, talking to someone who worked at the same company, a driver was mentioned who had a bit of a track record of careless incidents and pretending they hadn't happened, and who'd eventually got the push. I have no idea if the prang involving my car had been the final straw.
 

Eyersey468

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I worked in a school, and going into work one day, I was the car that the back end of the bus sideswiped, putting quite a dent in the shapely rear wing of my car. The driver appeared not to notice, despite a lot of people shouting and waving (for some reason, people seem to get quite aerated when buses start bashing into things at a school gate with dozens of kids milling around ).

I knew which company operated the school buses, so phoned it in to the transport manager, who said he'd inspect the bus on its return. He called back later - "Is your car black?". Apparently, there was a fair bit of black paint on the rear of the nice cream bus .

I was asked to take the car into the garage, and they offered to do the repair, which I agreed to, and I have to say that they did a bang-up job. I think the wheel arch had already got a small ding, which was gone when I got the car back 24 hours later.

When I expressed my thanks, the TM did mention that they'd spoken to the driver, that he had denied the collision, despite a gazillion witnesses, and...well, he didn't say what had happened, but he clearly regarded the failure to stop as an aggravating factor and said that the driver had been "spoken to". I have a feeling tea and biscuits were not a part of that conversation.

Some while later, talking to someone who worked at the same company, a driver was mentioned who had a bit of a track record of careless incidents and pretending they hadn't happened, and who'd eventually got the push. I have no idea if the prang involving my car had been the final straw.
I have known drivers at my work that will prang a bus and not say anything.
 
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I have known drivers at my work that will prang a bus and not say anything.
Not unknown, nowadays I would take a quick picture of any vehicle I was taking out of the depot as they come down hard on this now, which is fair enough. We had one guy who was having an accident every few weeks, he got away with it for ages as he was a managers relative, but this made it very hard to discipline other drivers when he wasn't. He had even driven into a bridge with a decker and didn't get sacked, that was normally instant dismissal.

Pre dereg there were rarely any accidents, divers took pride in their standards and the judgment of your peers was the punishment, 25 years without accident badges were common.
 

Eyersey468

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Not unknown, nowadays I would take a quick picture of any vehicle I was taking out of the depot as they come down hard on this now, which is fair enough. We had one guy who was having an accident every few weeks, he got away with it for ages as he was a managers relative, but this made it very hard to discipline other drivers when he wasn't. He had even driven into a bridge with a decker and didn't get sacked, that was normally instant dismissal.

Pre dereg there were rarely any accidents, divers took pride in their standards and the judgment of your peers was the punishment, 25 years without accident badges were common.
Nowadays its a rare day when we as a company don't have an accident. Ones that are not our fault can't always be avoided, for example the guy in the Passat that ran into the back of me, but a lot of accidents could be avoided by reading the road and anticipating things
 

Iron Girder

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I was a passenger on a bus, probably in the late 1970s/early 80s. A DMS, on route 189, as it happens. We were going past the Scilly Isles near Esher, taking the dedicated lane for that route, and a tipper truck came around the roundabout as if we weren't there, and piled into the side of the bus. My abiding memory was the great crash as various body panels just seemed to fall to bits and slide off onto the ground. Needless to say, that was the end of that bus journey, so we all piled off. I don't recall anyone being hurt, but I think the bus/lorry combo was there for a couple of hours...
 

LUYMun

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I was a passenger on a bus, probably in the late 1970s/early 80s. A DMS, on route 189, as it happens. We were going past the Scilly Isles near Esher, taking the dedicated lane for that route, and a tipper truck came around the roundabout as if we weren't there, and piled into the side of the bus. My abiding memory was the great crash as various body panels just seemed to fall to bits and slide off onto the ground. Needless to say, that was the end of that bus journey, so we all piled off. I don't recall anyone being hurt, but I think the bus/lorry combo was there for a couple of hours...
As far as I have searched for the route 189 on Ian Armstrong's London Bus Routes, it only ran to Esher via Scilly Isle between 1973 and 1976 with DMS allocated to that route, which is out of your date range. Knowing LT, if an accident occurred immediately after the introduction of a DMS, I'm more than certain it would've got scrapped, so it would've had a short lifetime.
May I ask if your recollection is correct?
 

py_megapixel

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As of a few days ago, I can now say I actually have had an accident on a bus (well somewhat, anyway).

This was on a road with a van which was stopped while unloading a delivery - the van was taking blocking some of the width of the road so the bus couldn't get through properly, The van driver attempted to manoeuvre his van to give more room and in so doing accidentally reversed at an angle into the side of the bus. Luckily it was a very minor collision and there were no injuries or damage caused, though there were about 10-15 minutes of delay while the bus driver spoke to the van driver and then radioed Stagecoach control
to tell them about the incident.
 

CBlue

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I've been lucky enough only to experience one. The access road to my secondary school was on a downhill slope with a sharp left hand bend at the bottom. Black ice caused the bus to go into a slide and demolish a signpost. Thankfully there were no injuries whatsoever (apart from the driver's pride) and only a slight nick on the front of the bus.
 
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pinkmarie80

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Yes unfortunately- four.
Two of them were only minor prangs (anyone who knows the Blackbird Road junction in Leicester will probably know what I mean.) One was a van that pulled right out in front of the bus and the driver couldn’t stop. The bus got a smashed headlight but the van came off worse. Another was a car pulling out of Aldi and there was a very minor, very low speed touching of bumpers. No damage to either vehicle After a quiick exchange of details we were on our way.

The other two were considerably worse. These two incidents combined left me with a permanent impairment and cost the bus company a five figure sum in compensation (I’m not talking low five figures either). This wasn’t a "where there’s blame there's a claim" scenario - one of my fairly major joints is now crumbling, I’m in constant severe pain and the use of it has been limited.

One the first occasion the bus hit a car at a roundabout. The driver was at fault as he was in the wrong lane and instead of just staying in that lane and correcting himself when it was safe, he changed lanes when it wasn’t safe to do so and smashed into the back of a car. I was unlucky enough to be sat where there was no seat in front to cushion my fall and I was thrown out of my seat. It ended up with a trip to A&E.

On the second occasion I was still recovering when I got onto a bus driven by an absolute jobsworth. I had my rollator with me and he didn't want to give me time to board. He kept impatiently telling me to hurry up and shot away from the stop the minute I was on like he was at Silverstone. My balance is not brilliant so needless to say the resulting fall was spectacular. How on earth nothing was broken I have no idea but I’ve never felt pain like it.

I've had 6 months of private physio, steroid injections and scans. The private specialist who I saw eventually concluded that the damage had been caused 30:70 by the two accidents. My solicitors were very surprised that the bus company settled pretty much immediately but they also said that the medical evidence was pretty clear. I used the money I received to learn to drive; I refused to get on a bus after that.
 
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Busaholic

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As far as I have searched for the route 189 on Ian Armstrong's London Bus Routes, it only ran to Esher via Scilly Isle between 1973 and 1976 with DMS allocated to that route, which is out of your date range. Knowing LT, if an accident occurred immediately after the introduction of a DMS, I'm more than certain it would've got scrapped, so it would've had a short lifetime.
May I ask if your recollection is correct?
It's quite possible the poster has misremembered the date slightly, which is unsurprising given the gap in time. I would certainly take issue with your generalised comment on LT's attitude towards a new DMS being immediately scrapped after any sort of accident, no matter how caused or how serious. It'd be tantamount to saying 'oh, we know these buses are just garbage on wheels. and so are either incapable of being repaired or don't deserve it.' I worked at Bus Operating HQ for part of that period, and a lot of management time and judgment went into the development of the 'bespoke' parts to be added and other adjustments to the basic Fleetline design, no matter how the DMS came to be seen as a relative failure in London terms at a later stage, albeit less so than the singledeck AEC Merlins and Swifts.
 

LUYMun

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I would certainly take issue with your generalised comment on LT's attitude towards a new DMS being immediately scrapped after any sort of accident, no matter how caused or how serious. It'd be tantamount to saying 'oh, we know these buses are just garbage on wheels. and so are either incapable of being repaired or don't deserve it.' I worked at Bus Operating HQ for part of that period, and a lot of management time and judgment went into the development of the 'bespoke' parts to be added and other adjustments to the basic Fleetline design, no matter how the DMS came to be seen as a relative failure in London terms at a later stage, albeit less so than the singledeck AEC Merlins and Swifts.
I didn't make the statement based on the grounds of LT being lazy or the DMS was a massive failure, but rather on a comparison of this type of vehicle to most others as whilst I was searching through this rather comprehensive list on DM(S)s courtsey of Ian's Bus Stop, a great proportion of them got scrapped by 1982 give or take so those lasted surprisingly short, compared to the Routemaster (or in a few cases, the outliving RT) at the time or any modern bus going today.
 
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I was on an X51 bus heading from Glasgow to Livingston (somepoint in July 2019).

While in Glasgow city centre someone was using a weed whacker, a stone had got caught in the weed whacker which sent a small stone heading at some speed at the bus, this resulted in a shattered a window accompanied with a very loud bang.

A big kerfuffle started with someone trying to blame the driver for it and someone using a dog collar to corner off the seat but obviously that isn't going to make a difference.

The driver went out to asses the situation and cleaned of the glass still on the window which resulted in the glass falling on top of him.

Then when the driver walked back into the bus he slipped and fell injuring his arm and hip.

The driver wasn't seriously injured and no-one on the bus hurt :).
 

185

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Was stood at the front of a R-reg Plaxton Expressliner II which had no crew seat... whilst chatting away, leaned left and the door swung opened at 62mph on the M6.

Air pipe was loose. As were my underpants. :frown:
 

High Dyke

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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.
Out of interest where was this taken?

Personally, I've had a few during my time as a driver. In all of the accidents I've had though none have resulted in the vehicle I was driving being put off the road at the time. The same couldn't be said for the 'other' vehicle. The two most notable being: (1) misjudging the braking ability of my elderly vehicle, a 1973 AEC coach and running into the back of another bus. My vehicle suffered a cracked windscreen, but I smashed the rear window of the other bus. (2) lost control on a wet road with an empty vehicle and collided with the fence of the local park. I thought I'd got away with it, apart from minor body damage; however, from out of nowhere a police car appears. The officer suggested "a little fast for the bend sir?" I mentioned about the poor road condition at this particular place. I did the customary blow-in-the-bag; passed the test, and then proceeded to have a discussion with the officer about various aspects of policing at night, where other patrols were and who would tell the council about the damage to their fence. I filed an accident report, but faced no further action. Following a couple of similar incidents at the same location the highways authority resurfaced the offending piece of road a couple of weeks later.
 

175mph

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Out of interest where was this taken?

Personally, I've had a few during my time as a driver. In all of the accidents I've had though none have resulted in the vehicle I was driving being put off the road at the time. The same couldn't be said for the 'other' vehicle. The two most notable being: (1) misjudging the braking ability of my elderly vehicle, a 1973 AEC coach and running into the back of another bus. My vehicle suffered a cracked windscreen, but I smashed the rear window of the other bus. (2) lost control on a wet road with an empty vehicle and collided with the fence of the local park. I thought I'd got away with it, apart from minor body damage; however, from out of nowhere a police car appears. The officer suggested "a little fast for the bend sir?" I mentioned about the poor road condition at this particular place. I did the customary blow-in-the-bag; passed the test, and then proceeded to have a discussion with the officer about various aspects of policing at night, where other patrols were and who would tell the council about the damage to their fence. I filed an accident report, but faced no further action. Following a couple of similar incidents at the same location the highways authority resurfaced the offending piece of road a couple of weeks later.
It was taken at the old bus station in Scunthorpe, a few months prior to it's demolition. Other nearby buildings were already in the process of being demolished, then the old bus station was demolished later that same year.
 

Stan63

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In 1992 I was returning from the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington with friends on a bus we had rented. While we were out cold after the excesses of the day the driver fell asleep (confirmed by a friend who saw him nodding off). The bus swerved from the left lane across to the central reservation and hit the barrier sending us all flying. The bus then tilted onto the left hand wheels before the wakened driver turned the steering wheel and we landed upright while swerving onto the hard shoulder. I was in the front seat and ended up down the stairs against the door of the bus.
As we were only a couple of miles from Southwaite we headed into the service station to take stock of what had happened. The panels on the driver's side of the bus were ripped to bits but remarkably nothing else was damaged and the only injuries out of around 38 people were a few bruises and one guy with a cut to his head when he was hit by the first aid box.
It was a frightening experience especially waking up in the pitch black with the bus all over the place. I've never sobered up as quickly in my life and we were all wide awake for the last bit of the journey to Ayrshire.

Stan
 
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Just the other week I was on the Stagecoach X19 from Barnsley to Doncaster. Coming into Doncaster we approach a pelican crossing and a child riding his bicycle doesn't look and is so very nearly run down, the bike hit the bus causing scratches, but thank goodness the child didn't.

As a conductor on XF1 on the Epping Ongar Railway 339 service with a full load; it was just before Christmas 2019 and a hesitant car driver pulls out, the driver slams on brakes whilst I'm on heading up the stairs, and we stop about a meter away. Thankfully nothing more serious than that when out conducting touch wood.

Once on the 108 approaching North Greenwich when I was a kid around 2008ish driver forgets the length of the bus and smashes into a car coming around the corner, not too much damage thankfully.
 

High Dyke

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It was taken at the old bus station in Scunthorpe, a few months prior to it's demolition. Other nearby buildings were already in the process of being demolished, then the old bus station was demolished later that same year.
I thought I recognised the livery. Though personally I preferred the NBC green 'venetian blind' livery on the Olympians, as delivered new.
 
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chorleyjeff

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

In 20 years I had no blame worthy accidents on the road, quite proud of that record, a couple of minor scratches in the depot.

Once had a guy come round a bend on the wrong side of the road, overtaking a bunch of parked cars on his side, I managed to stop but he didn't and drove into me.

First thing he said was " you were going too fast" , yes mate, up hill with a full load in an ex London MCW with a top speed of 30mph. A couple of passengers were injured due to the emergency stop.

Never heard any more but I hope they threw the book at him.

Yes. Many years ago a Preston Corporation bus ran into the back of my Mini outside Preston Prison. Minimal damage.
 

Bikeman78

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I recall a bus hitting a Nissan Micra near me on Newport Road some years ago. The car was attempting to join the main road with the front partly blocking the bus lane. I've no idea where the bus driver was looking because the car was there a good 10 seconds before the bus clouted it. The Micra was turned through 90 degrees but there was almost no damage to the bodywork.
 
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