Saturday 1 Oct

The day started with a slight problem. Torbay council publish a Public Transport Guide every 6 months, one in June and the other in October. The date on the front of the latest Guide is 1st Oct 2011 to 31st May 2012. Our winter time tables are in the guide but they don't start until Oct 11. However several people looked at the timetables and were expecting us to be running the winter times today. So the first 3 trips I was explaining to passengers that I wasn't going where the time table said I was for an other 10 days. We have been handing out copies of our timetables to all our passengers for the last two weeks with the start date clearly marked on then but one or two people would sooner believe the council who don't run the bus service than us who do run it.

Then on my last trip of the day I was going along the Totnes Rd when the traffic came to a grinding halt. Now we have had problems with Tweenaway Cross but we were a long way away from the lights at this point. When it became clear we were not making any progress I told my passengers I was going to find out what was happening. The large white truck in the photo had grounded while attempting to turn right out of a narrow side street and one of the back wheels was off the ground. This means the truck had no drive as the wheel that was not touching the ground was free to turn but because the way the differential in the back wheel works the wheel on the ground wouldn't turn. Attempts were made to put planks under the wheel but it wasn't high enough off the ground to get the plank under the wheel so the only way the truck was going to move was an expensive breakdown truck giving it a pull. Now there wasn't space for the Stagecoach double decker to get past but I could, if the decker moved back a bit. Eventually I got past and continued on my was 15 minutes late.

Only one more week to go.