More coming into contact.....

In the centre of Torquay around the Strand area, Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers are laying anti skid surface to the roads. In one place to day they had cones out and it was not possible to get past their cones. So I stopped and asked them to move a couple of cones while I drove past. One, the short fat cowboy with the 6 foot long red hot blow touch suggested where I should stick my bus. I replied that driving on the pavement was not an option and would he move the cones please. He just walked away and continued heating up the road surface with his very hot thermic lance. So I waited for a little while and tried to contact control and ask them to send the sheriff of Torbay down to get them to unblock the road. I tried several times but no reply, I even tried Exeter and Exmouth control and Houston Mission Control (just incase they had a spare minute and could help with my problem). Still no answer. So in the end I did what a man has to do and drove into the cones gently moving them out of the way.

The next bus driver reported that they had moved the cones for him. Maybe he was bigger than me. Or maybe they just got fed up of picking the cones up. I'm fairly sure that it wasn't because the sheriff had arrived. Any way when they went home they left their cones out just to be nasty sods.

Still more on coming into contact.......

I was telling the story of the cones to an other driver and he reminded me about the time a couple of years ago when he came into contact with a hotdog stand in Fleet Walk. This was a big mobile hot dog stand and Bob had hit it with his bus and hadn't realized and drove on. The hot dog man had got his number and when Bob came back 25 mins later, hot dog man and police were waiting for him.

During the exchange in which Bob admitted hiting the hot dog stand the hot dog man stated the his wife,who was pregnant had been in the van at the time. Bob at once said," I hope you're not trying to blame me for that as well."

There were no reports of Bob getting beaten to a pulp for that remark, but he may well have been.

Now and then the Law isn't an ass

A policeman drove for the fun of it at 159 mph down a motorway.

Not Guilty said a District Judge at first court appearance.

Two High Court Judges have now told the District Judge that it might be a good idea if he had an other guess.

Some bus passengers are very nice.....

Not just some bus passengers but almost all are very nice. Now and then one or two get on who arn't. The mess on the right consists of half a pound of broken buiscuits and the container on the left contained the remains of a burger or some other greasy food.

So please don't treat the bus as a cafe and don't be upset if I refuse to let you on with anything that looks like fast food or fish and chips. Eat your grub where you buy it or buy it some where handy for home.

Hit and Walk

Normally in motoring terms it is Hit and Run. Usually what happens is there is an RTC (formally an RTA) and the person at fault drives away without exchanging details. This is an offence for which the penalties can be heavy. It also leaves the other party with the chore of going to a police station as soon as possible or within 24 hours and reporting the matter.

Well, I came into contact with a pedestrian the other day. Fortunately I was traveling quiet slowly and the pedestrian only came into contact with the leading edge of the bus and was not thrown forward with the danger of being run over. Indeed as far as I could tell he wasn't even knocked to the ground.

After the contact was made I stopped the bus and ran back to speak to him but he insisted that he was alright and would not wait while I called an ambulance. Nor would he provide me with name or address. He just walked away.

So on the way home I spent 35 mins in the local police station reporting the RTC. So far no one has limped in the the office complaining the the had been hit by a bus so I am hopeful that he is alright. Not an every day occurrence, thankfully.