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Bus driver arrested after collision

10:53am Monday 8th September 2008

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The bus driver involved in yesterday’s Croydon town centre road accident when a man died has been arrested.

The 28-year-old driver of the 468 bus was arrested yesterday after being treated for his injuries at St George’s Hospital Tooting.

A 28-year-old man was killed and six bus passengers were injured when the bus and a tram were in a collision at around 10am on Wellesley Road at the junction with George Street.

It is now thought that the dead man had been a passenger on the bus rather than a pedestrian as previously reported.

It is believed he was thrown from the bus during the accident and then hit by the tram.

After the collision the bus continued to travel at speed down George Street damaging shops and businesses before hitting an illegally parked BMW.

A postmortem examination on the dead man is due to be held at Croydon Mortuary tomorrow. Officers say they are awaiting formal identification before naming the victim, but say his family have been informed of his death.

The incident is being investigated the Collision Investigation Unit based at Catford Traffic Garage.

Councillor Phil Thomas, Croydon Council’s cabinet member for environment and highways, said: “The loss of life in the town centre road incident over the weekend is very much regretted.

“We look forward to receiving results of police investigation and liaising with colleagues in TfL as to whether any steps should be taken to help avoid a recurrence. We have always worked closely with Tramlink to identify and respond to safety issues relating to trams on the highway.

“Meanwhile, our thoughts are naturally with the family and friends of the victim.”

Witnesses to the incident should call officers on 020 8285 1574.

Do you know the identity of the dead man? Call the newsdesk 020 8330 9555.

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ric, kingston says...
2:04pm Mon 8 Sep 08

you have to wonder why a bus would carry on going after hitting something like a tram. if you hit a tram then a load of shops then a parked car surely the accelerator has to be on.

i hope this isnt another case of driver error.

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Worried, Croydon says...
2:14pm Mon 8 Sep 08

Theres too many different stories in different papers to be sure what exactly happened. Thoughts and prayers to the mans family and friends who sadly lost his life in this tragedy

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scum_dancing, Selhurst says...
2:19pm Mon 8 Sep 08

It doesn't surprise me that an accident has happened. Croydon bus drivers drive like mentalists. They never seem to be in a rush to get to me when I've been waiting half an hour for them to arrive. It's only after I've boarded that they drive like Lewis Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix.

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julielh153, new addington says...
2:41pm Mon 8 Sep 08

Why was the bus going down George Street anyway??? This road is not for buses!!!! Sympathies to the family and friends of the victim.

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sallysangels, croydon says...
3:15pm Mon 8 Sep 08

I felt sick when i heard about the crash. How does this happen in this day and age??
My heart goes to all family and friends of this young man who lost his life.

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
4:30pm Mon 8 Sep 08

ric wrote:
you have to wonder why a bus would carry on going after hitting something like a tram. if you hit a tram then a load of shops then a parked car surely the accelerator has to be on.i hope this isnt another case of driver error.
The driver was knocked out thats why the bus kept moving

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
4:42pm Mon 8 Sep 08

http://www.croydongu
ardian.co.uk/news/lo
calnews/3652534.Man_
killed_after_bus_and
_tram_collide/#show


If you read that artical AGAIN, its states how the bus ended in George Street.

The collision FORCED the bus down George Street at speed where it damaged a number of shops and businesses before finally coming to a halt when it hit an illegally parked silver BMW.



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ric, kingston says...
8:59am Tue 9 Sep 08

if your about to hit something. you hit the brakes right.....so when you get knocked out you foot lifts itself up and put it back on the accelerator?

i think not.

if he didnt hit the brakes what was he looking at to not notice the tram.

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scoffer, Beckenham says...
10:26am Tue 9 Sep 08

Standards of bus driving are useless now - fact.

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ric, kingston says...
12:03pm Tue 9 Sep 08

thats why i used the words. 'you have to wonder'

and 'i hope this isnt a case of driver error'

clearly the only chinese whispers here is from worried people in croyden.

irony

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
4:38pm Tue 9 Sep 08

.... sorry but i think people are putting most of the blame on the bus driver, what about the **** car that made the bus swerve - hasnt police tracked down that car to find out why he made the bus do that

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
4:38pm Tue 9 Sep 08

.... sorry but i think people are putting most of the blame on the bus driver, what about the **** car that made the bus swerve - hasnt police tracked down that car to find out why he made the bus do that

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ohdearyme, Hinchley Wood says...
4:59pm Tue 9 Sep 08

Angela. Read the report again... You've got it all wrong.

After the collision the bus continued to travel at speed down George Street damaging shops and businesses before hitting an illegally parked BMW.


The collision had already occured. The reason the bus driver is being blamed is because he was at fault. If he wasn't he wouldn't have been arrested.

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Fred1, Surbiton says...
8:07pm Tue 9 Sep 08

In response to ohdearyme, my understanding is that there were *two* cars involved. The first was the car which the bus driver swerved to avoid when pulling out of Park Street into Park Lane; this car is thought to have got away. And the second car was the illegally parked one in George Street, which the bus smashed into.

These are two separate cars, and are not to be confused with each other.

There is reason to believe that when the bus hit the tram, the front of the bus caught the front of the tram, and the bus driver may have been knocked out by the impact. My understanding is that the illegally parked car isn't the only thing that the bus hit in George street; it also bounced back and forth between the sides of George Street, hitting the shop fronts as it went along, *before* hitting the illegally parked car.

I think that's not the sort of thing that most drivers would do deliberately if they're in control of their vehicles.

To the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been confirmed whether the signals at the Wellesley Road / George Street junction were working correctly or not; it would explain a lot of things if they weren't.

And just because one guy has been arrested doesn't mean that no-one else was at fault.

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croydonkid, The Croydon says...
8:14pm Tue 9 Sep 08

Just a quickie. There was no car that the bus swerved to avoid. It is a line picked up early by the advertiser rag which was wrong and which they have failed to correct. Notice how the cops have not put out an appeal for the mystery car driver to come forward and how the mystery car is not in any of the pictures in the crash scene. One car involved and that was the BMW that stopped the bus along George Street.

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Brian Sewer, Tarring W.Sussex says...
9:23am Wed 10 Sep 08

Perhaps the bus driver was new to the area? some people get very confused in Croydons tram layout

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ohdearyme, Hinchley Wood says...
9:30am Wed 10 Sep 08

Thank you Croydonkid. I was pretty sure I had my facts straight.

Fred. The fact that he was arrested means he was at fault. They don't arrest people for fun.

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ric, kingston says...
10:05am Wed 10 Sep 08

fred said.

'I think that's not the sort of thing that most drivers would do deliberately if they're in control of their vehicles.'

people who arent very good at driving tend to plant their foot on the accelerator when they panic.

a bus crashing off 3 or 4 different objects means he was either going well over 30mph or he carried on accelerating, my guess is the later.

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Brian Sewer, Tarring W.Sussex says...
11:31am Wed 10 Sep 08

Perhaps the driver was speeding to make up lost time? ive seen this before where drivers are under pressure to make up time, or perhaps he wasnt familar with Croydons confusing layout criss crossing the tram section?

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
1:14pm Thu 11 Sep 08

ohdearyme wrote:
Thank you Croydonkid. I was pretty sure I had my facts straight.Fred. The fact that he was arrested means he was at fault. They don't arrest people for fun.
So you say. We will all know once the CCTV has been looked at

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
1:17pm Thu 11 Sep 08

Fred1 wrote:
In response to ohdearyme, my understanding is that there were *two* cars involved. The first was the car which the bus driver swerved to avoid when pulling out of Park Street into Park Lane; this car is thought to have got away. And the second car was the illegally parked one in George Street, which the bus smashed into.These are two separate cars, and are not to be confused with each other.There is reason to believe that when the bus hit the tram, the front of the bus caught the front of the tram, and the bus driver may have been knocked out by the impact. My understanding is that the illegally parked car isn't the only thing that the bus hit in George street; it also bounced back and forth between the sides of George Street, hitting the shop fronts as it went along, *before* hitting the illegally parked car.I think that's not the sort of thing that most drivers would do deliberately if they're in control of their vehicles.To the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been confirmed whether the signals at the Wellesley Road / George Street junction were working correctly or not; it would explain a lot of things if they weren't.And just because one guy has been arrested doesn't mean that no-one else was at fault.
"And just because one guy has been arrested doesn't mean that no-one else was at fault" - exactly.

those lights are hell as well.

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
1:24pm Thu 11 Sep 08

ohdearyme wrote:
Angela. Read the report again... You've got it all wrong.After the collision the bus continued to travel at speed down George Street damaging shops and businesses before hitting an illegally parked BMW. The collision had already occured. The reason the bus driver is being blamed is because he was at fault. If he wasn't he wouldn't have been arrested.
No you have.

The poor driver was knocked out cold. How is he going to control the bus when he is UNCONSCIOUS!!!

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ohdearyme, Hinchley Wood says...
2:19pm Thu 11 Sep 08

Angela, come and talk to me when you have all the facts.

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
3:20pm Thu 11 Sep 08

same goes to you. "ohdearme"
you know nothing and you wernt there.

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ohdearyme, Hinchley Wood says...
3:37pm Thu 11 Sep 08

I know nothing? Once again Angela, you couldn't be more wrong.

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
5:15pm Thu 11 Sep 08

Good. your the one that 1ST spoke to me so dont talk to me. I know what happened on that day you dont. You only know what The Croydon Guardian have put up. So Byeeeee

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lisa84, croydon says...
10:54pm Thu 11 Sep 08

i think buses should have seat belts all other transport have to have them so why not buses maybe a seat belt could have saved that mans life.thoughts and prayers to the mans family.

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ohdearyme, Hinchley Wood says...
9:51am Fri 12 Sep 08

Haha how funny are you!!!

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Angela.w, Croydon says...
1:17pm Fri 12 Sep 08

i hope buses do end up having seat belts fitted but i wonder if anyone would actually use them?

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