Moley

iTrader: (9)

As soon as i saw it on the news this morning i knew it would be a National Express coach.

I have to drive past Gatwick Airport every day, and have to put up with these coaches sitting 2 inches off my bumper, sitting in the outside lane refusing to move over, and cutting up cars all the time.

The driving of some of their drivers is nothing short of shocking, and in my opinion it was only a matter of time untill something like this happened.

(I know it hasn't been proven the driver was at fault, although he has been arrested)

Rant over

FlightMan

Agree. Terrible tragedy for those families involved, but the amount of National Express coaches I see on my travels between LHR and LGW, being driven in a dangerous manner, shocks me. Not suprised this happened, it was just a matter of time. Hope it was mechanical failure of some sort, but I doubt it.

SiPie

Just been chatting about this at work and my only memory of coach travel (from Edinburgh to London...around 20yrs ago) was waking up around 3am to see the driver racing another national express coach at speeds that must of been (or seriously felt to be) around 100mph.....

powerman1

driver has been arrested, so not mechanical failure

GrahamG

All i know is that it was bloody windy, if there were no others involved he must of been speeding....

Scooby Snacks 23

Put your foot down a bit Gary - surely your scoob can beat a coach

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

as a coach operator this hurts me in more ways than one (insurance etc) everytime someone dies in a coach,

coaches are limited to 62mph so 100mph even 20 years ago would have been a slight oversite, 80mph poss it it was that long ago as limiters wernt law untill iirc 86/87

i have to aggree with you all though, some drivers realy do give proper coach drivers a bad name...

national express / megabus / airlink / citylink coaches are glorifyed bus routes driven by jumped up bus drivers that dont know courtesy or road manors.

i without going into it to much would say he was traveling around a sharp bend to fast in a double decker coach that was prob top heavy ( most people who get on a double decker coach tend to go up staires )
and he prob lost control when a gust of wind hit it and had no way of compensating on the bend

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

as said hi was prob driving to fast for the conditions so arested for "death by dangerous driving" but doesnt mean there wasnt anything wrong with the coach,
VOSA will now impound the coach and it will be gone over with a fine tooth comb and they will find out if there was anything wrong with the coach that would have contributed to the accident, and if there is the operator will be on the same charges as the driver along with a list of many more too.

the coach may only be 1 or 2 year old but if it hasnt been in for an inspection every 6 weeks the operator will get charged for bad mantenence
even if there is nothing actualy wrong with the coach.

Sbradley

AFAIK the driver is almost always arrested and cautioned in the event of a fatal incident - there will almost always be a prosecution of somebody, somewhere so they need to get the process right from the beginning...

Can't just have a "**** happens" accident any more. Someone has to be to blame.

SB

PS Not saying that's the case here, just pointing out that an arrest doesn't automatically mean it was actually the driver's fault...

andythejock01wrx

Horrible incident by the sound of it - apparently passengers lost limbs at the scene, in addition to the two that died.

Going round a bend and overturned - yes high winds may have been an issue, but one can't help think that it's likely that excessive speed would have too.

N1gel 1970

accrding to the news (LBC), one witness is reported as saying the coach hit a kerb before flipping.

whatever the circumstances, it's a terrible start to 2007 for at least 1/2 dozen famalies

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

it is also possible he fell asleep its suprisingly easy to do even with such a big vehicle

TDT

In cases like this it is quite normal for driver to be arrested on suspicion.....just in case.

Knowing that junction he's probably gone round the corner a bit quick, clipped the kerb, over compensated an already top-heavy coach and fallen over.

Am I right in thinking those Neoplans are the ones with about 6 seats on the bottom?

Scooby Soon!

I have seen National express coaches going 70mph on the M4 so they cant all be limited to 62mph

Varboy

remember that your car speedo overreads and he may have been going downhill, speed limiters don't apply brakes

Scooby Soon!

I dont drive a car, I drive a van and the speedo is over by 4mph, My road angel and my tomtom both said it was 70mph my speedo said 74mph .

I have seen this on a number of occasions, im not saying its a bad thing just that they obviously have workarounds.

Abdabz

Listening to semi high brow radio on the way into work today and a coach driver had called in to say it was common knowledge within the industry that National Express drivers race each other on the route in question. Spokesperson for National Express said that they would be happy to investigate tacho's and reprimand drivers if proven...

TDT

Tachographs are calibrated, and the speed limiter is checked every time the vehicle is MoT'd. You'll probably find that it's your speedo rather than the coach speeding

National Express will (like everyone else in the industry) have their tachos analysed, either in-house, or by someone like Tachodisc. This analysis would highlight any drivers who are breaking speed limits, hours rules or anything else.

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

even down hill it wouldnt have gone over by that much new coaches have ECU's as well as cars and they have "telmar" brake retarders on them to reduce the friction side of braking and also acts as a over-run brake.

the fastest any coach under 15 year old would be cabable of is 65mph unless it is a shoddy operator who would allow there drivers to get away with "poping" the speed limiter. ( which with the high cost of fines/loss of operating licence etc i cant see there being many)

also national express dont own the coach that was involved (NE only own about 25/30 coaches) most NE coaches are sub-contracted and they will probably only investigate the companys that run that route,

this will all boil down to how good a company the sub-contractor is,
NE will lose face over this but will not get any fines/court hearings etc
it will all fall onto the sub-contractor.

the only reason that NE said they have pulled all "there"(meaning all sub-contracted) double deckers for safety checks is to try and restore public feeling for the company.

brihoppy

the reason an RTA is now called an RTC...implies theres no such thing as a genuine accident...someones always looking to lay blame...

Leslie

It was reported that the driver was arrested and held for questioning under suspicion of dangerous driving.

Les

DCI Gene Hunt

I heard he swerved to avoid a loose pitbull that was charging towards the bus

Moley

iTrader: (9)

A muslim pitball at that!!!!

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

a failed asylum seeker Muslim pitbull

TopBanana

A passenger on Sky News described him losing the back-end, hitting the guardrail, the back bouncing back, then the whole coach sliding sideways until it eventually rolled on its side.

SiPie

Trust me, these coaches were seriously shifting...........rattling about etc, seriously scary and I assure you it was a hell of a lot more than 62mph

No limiters on these coaches...no way

This was in 1987/88...any ideas?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Look out for the next enterant in the D1 drift championship this year, in something 'a bit different' from a Skyline/200SX

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

The driver has ben released!

We shouldn't jump to conclusions, it's been very windy in the SE recently and there may well have been mechanical factors or a spillage on the road.

ns04