Various 'open-top bus conversion' incidents, usually involving railway bridges

[whole diary]

[bobm]

I'm interested as to what reminders bus drivers may be given about 'low bridges on your new route' if their duties are changed at such short notice?

For years there has been a sign telling bus drivers to avoid one of the notorious low bridges in Wokingham.  Although not that clear in this lift from Street View, this "hi-tech" sign and its red post have outlived the bus company which erected them by a good few years!

[trainer]

As Chris from Nailsea will know well, we have had a double-decker conversion under the low bridge at Nailsea and Backwell Station and that was with a driver 'off route' coming from/to the depot (can't remember which the other bus driver told me), so no specific warning would have been given. I think this is what usually happens in these cases unless a lax inspector (do they still have such things?) sends out the wrong vehicle for the route. In the end, I'm afraid, as with lorries, the driver needs to know his/her vehicle.

[GBM]

Drivers know which routes low bridges are on, and the route taken ensures a collision doesn't happen. Routes are generally planned to avoid low bridges with any vehicle.
However, a single decker will be swapped for a double, and control should inform the driver to change route because of a low bridge.
No radio's fitted to any of our vehicles, so everything is by your own mobile.
Company rules state these should be left in your locker before commencing work,  This then leaves you without communication in case of a problem...............
Control can be swamped on occasions, so they forget; the driver doesn't think ahead - errors occur.
Thank you Chris & richerwarwick. Yes, I am a driver, but forgot on one occasion (towards the end of a day) about a low bridge enroute as I had a decker.  Control advised me at a half way stop, so that village was bypassed, and the main road used.
Have heard of that happening to other drivers - either the driver reminded control, or they reminded the driver.
Diversion routes are always planned by the managers going out before and checking for vehicle suitability.  We are then supposed to be route trained to gain route familiarity.

[trainer]

That's a really interesting contribution, GBM and two points leap out at me.  Firstly, unlike the railways where vehicles are restricted to specific routes, a bus company can swap a saloon (single decker) for a (double) decker on a route that has low bridges.  This cannot be a good idea when (my second point) communication with drivers is not only not provided but seems to be forbidden.  In terms of Risk Assessment, both these items seem to count negatively.  I can quite imagine driving a familiar route on service and forgetting in the stress of everyday events that the roof is several metres above where it has been for months past.  Perhaps on reflection, to my comment about the driver knowing the vehicle I must add that Control and above them, Management must bare some responsibility as well for the systems in place which may cause confusion and therefore add to risk.

[GBM]

Slight clarification, perhaps required.
Yes, vehicles are regularly changed (single for double & v.v), and a double can end up on a low bridge route.  But it needs to be divered (or changed to a single) at the depot stop midway.
Agreed, not entirely the drivers fault, but the subsequent inquiry will blame the driver who will invariably be changing companies in the very near future!
Also we have several different height double deckers, something a driver needs to be aware of as well.

[Chris from Nailsea]

As Chris from Nailsea will know well, we have had a double-decker conversion under the low bridge at Nailsea and Backwell Station and that was with a driver 'off route' coming from/to the depot (can't remember which the other bus driver told me), so no specific warning would have been given.

Indeed - we discussed it here, and The Post (Bristol) provided some pictures.

A couple of points, though: the driver involved in that particular incident was apparently Polish, so maybe he didn't understand the signs, and his attempt was relatively amateurish - superficial damage to the front of the bus, rather than a complete removal of the roof!   

[trainer]

I see what you mean, Chris.  You need a really good run at it to do the job properly and the bend in the road is a bit unhelpful in this respect.

[TonyK]

At an airfield I knew, there were only two recorded accidents. In the first, a pilot who had recently qualified to fly twin-engined aircraft with retractable gear forgot to put the gear down. Having scraped the belly on the runway, he realised his mistake, applied full power, took off, flew the circuit and came back to a flawless landing, with unfortunately for him, too much damage to hide, but not fatal to pilot nor aircraft.

The second accident occurred a few weeks later, when the same pilot, on a check flight accompanied by an instructor, set off to prove he could manage it. On the downwind leg, he went through the checklist - Brakes Off, Undercarriage Down, Mixture Rich etc - then touched down without having lowered the undercarriage. The blame that time was placed upon the instructor, who watched him sing the song without doing the actions.

The point being that there is no way in the world that you can ever guarantee that someone will never drive a double decker under a single decker bridge unless you put in place foolproof infrastructure. Which some fool will ignore.

[Chris from Nailsea]

It is impossible to make anything fool-proof because fools are so ingenious. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Dover Express:

Investigation launched after double-decker railway smash

Bus bosses are investigating after a double-decker smashed into a railway bridge last week.

A dog-walker who was half a mile away said he heard an "almighty crash" as the top deck crumpled outside Kearsney railway station.


DECKED: A bus has its top knocked off after crashing into a rail bridge Picture by Stephen Davies

Police were called to deal with the ensuing traffic chaos as the Alkham Valley Road was closed during Thursday morning rush hour.

Stephen Davies was walking his lurcher, Gracie, in Kearsney Abbey at around 8.45am when they were both startled by "a big, loud, metallic bang".

The owner of The Accommodation Shop, in Dover, said: "I thought 'Oh, that doesn't sound good'."

The road was blocked by the wreckage when Mr Davies tried to drive back to Dover. He said: "I got out of the car and had a stroll up. He'd taken half the roof off. Someone would have been seriously injured if there were punters on board."

A spokesman for Kent Police said the "shaken" bus driver was breathalysed but recorded a negative result.

The driver of the number 15 bus had taken a wrong turning on the way to the start of the day's service on February 28. He took the 15b single-decker route, which passes under the rail bridge. The 15 should remain on London Road rather than turning off at Crabble Road on the way to Deal or Canterbury.

A spokesman for Stagecoach described the damage to the bus as "significant" and said: "Safety is our top priority and we have launched an investigation into the incident."

Stagecoach refused to comment on whether any disciplinary action was being taken against the driver.

The Southeastern rail service to London Victoria returned to normal speed at 10.20am after inspectors found no faults or structural damage to the bridge at Kearsney.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "The low headroom sign needs to be replaced."

[LiskeardRich]

From that picture doesnt look like he was only marginally too tall. Has the road been resurfaced lately, as that often catches drivers out of marginal vehicles, although signs legally have to show the maximum height as 6 inches less that the actual available.

[JayMac]

The facts that the driver took a wrong turn and that the bus route under the bridge is operated by single deckers is enough evidence, as far as I'm concerned, that double deckers are too tall for that bridge.

I note that it is another Volvo Olympian with Northern Counties Palatine body that has been scalped. It's probably their ubiquity, but this bus type is over represented in the bridge bash statistics, if this thread is any indicator.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Chelmsford bus has roof shorn off under bridge


The crash affected rail services which use the bridge

A double-decker bus had its roof completely shorn off when it hit a railway bridge in Essex.

The Regal Busways bus struck the bridge in Duke Street, Chelmsford, at 16:30 BST on Thursday.

Essex Police said officers attended, along with an ambulance, but nobody was injured. The road was closed for a time but opened shortly after.

Essex Fire and Rescue said its firefighters attended the scene but took no action.

Greater Anglia train services were disrupted for a short time but have since returned to normal.

[JayMac]

Nice to see an Alexander ALX400 Dennis Trident having been scalped for a change.

Makes a change from a Northern Counties Palatine Volvo Olympian. 

Can't quite fathom why the picture that accompanies the article has had the operator name/logo pixelated though. The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) tell us it is Regal Busways. Why censor the image?

[devon_metro]

Nice to see an Alexander ALX400 Dennis Trident having been scalped for a change.

Makes a change from a Northern Counties Palatine Volvo Olympian. 

Can't quite fathom why the picture that accompanies the article has had the operator name/logo pixelated though. The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) tell us it is Regal Busways. Why censor the image?

The image comes from the fire service, perhaps the bus company asked them to pixelate their logo?