Bus Challenge No 209

Bath Photographic Society's Annual Exhibition, St Michael’s Without Church, Bath

Heard of the exhibition through a fellow blipper so popped into town first thing this chilly morning to take a look, and return some pre-holiday panic buying. After an hour in Bath headed home on a very eventful bus ride.

As the bus drove up Saltford Hill, I could see a long line of stationary traffic in front of us, but the driver was gunning up the hill and was obviously not paying attention as he hadn’t noticed the traffic jam and had to perform an emergency stop, narrowly missing hitting the stationary car in front. I was sitting on the very back row of seats (with another row of seats facing me), alongside an elderly couple. When the driver slammed on the brakes the other lady and myself were thrown forward onto the seats in front, whereas the gentleman who was sitting in the middle was thrown from his seat between the gap in front and down the steps into the aisle. The driver turned round and asked if the gentleman was ok but then just carried on with the journey, without coming to check on him.

As a result of the emergency stop, I now have bruised knees and a sore arm. The other lady also said she’d hurt her knees and hands. I checked that the gentleman was ok, and asked if he wanted me to get help but he said he was ok. He said he hadn’t been hit so hard since he gave up playing rugby! To be honest, it was a miracle he wasn’t more severely injured. When I got home I reported the incident to the bus company who were very apologetic and said they would look into the matter and get back to me. I just felt this incident should be reported. It’s lucky that no one was seriously injured. 

Total bus journey time = 50mins

Thank you.