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Remember back in 2003 a wayward pedestrian having a very lucky escape in Hamilton when we'd had replacement vehicle put on our run down south on the NX590.  They materialised from behind a parked van and got clobbered by the bus, we were doing less than 20mph so the actual impact wasn't huge.

Luckily for them we were in a Bova Futura, so the pointy shape of the nose of the bus just chucked them back onto the footpath where they landed on their backside looking slightly dazed.

We were meant to be in a Van Hool Alizee.  Imagine with the completely flat front on there they'd have been far more likely to end up under the bus.

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My uncle worked for Yorkshire traction is 70s, he has told about a few bad accidents he had, I think while driving Leyland nationals, first was coming upto a bus stop, but just before bus stop was a road turning, he indicated to stop at bus stop but the car thought he was turning left and pulled, he hit it and it flipped it over, ended up on roof. Sadly he also killed a girl who run out in front of him. But he also said he had a nasty habit of changing gear with the hand brake lever, that shook the passengers up. 

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3 hours ago, sierraman said:

If you’ve ever seen someone get run over by a bus, it hits them and puts them on the floor, of the bus won’t stop quick enough they go under. 

Can confirm. Happened to the lad across the road from me when we were at secondary school: Graham thought he'd take a shortcut across the car park as the buses were coming in, and ended up losing his square go with a Kelvin Scottish MCW. One of the ALSxxxY ones iirc. It looked like it had sucked him under, so we assumed he was dead... Not so! Fire brigade had to lift it off him, and he emerged with only minor injuries.

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Not far from me about 20 years ago a couple were ‘making love’ in the road in the early hours of the morning (as you do...) as the bus was returning to depot, it went straight over them thinking they were a bin bag full of crap. Both killed pretty much instantly as it went straight over them. Think the driver ended up with the possibility of doing time over it sadly. 

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On 5/28/2020 at 12:49 AM, Eyersey1234 said:

A bit of googling suggests it's a Bellhouse Hartwell bodied Leyland Tiger Cub, not a body manufacturer I am familiar with 

It is indeed Bellhouse Hartwell. SUT in Sheffield had some Regals with this style body, they were known as "Marilyns" (and for our younger viewers that's because there was a Hollywood actress at that time with big ....).

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1 hour ago, bramz7 said:

Is there any MCV bus that doesn't look pretty awful? The Darts they used to body looked utter pants.

 

The rollerblind on that Excel is making my OCD flair up, I'd lose my shit driving that like that.

 

 

We got used to the roller blinds lol, though the fleet is pretty much all digi blind now. Its not just the look of the MCV it's the shitty build quality too, though to be fair the 66 reg Evosetis we have don't seem to be as badly built as the single 15 reg example or some of the 67 reg ones. 

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2 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Now for another piece of shite, and these really were shit. I present to you an Optare Excel, the bus that Jack built. Abysmal build quality and terrible both mechanically and to drive, they had no redeeming features whatsoever. 

294.jpg

The bus that was only ever slung together on a Friday afternoon when the entire Optare factory were in full on ‘churn it out and fuck off home’ mode. 

I had the misfortune to experience three of the sodding things - R100/200/300 PAR at Swanbrook in Cheltenham. It was a good day if all three were sent out and also returned at the scheduled time. I seem to recall they all had a habit of blowing coolant hoses out.

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55 minutes ago, 83C said:

The bus that was only ever slung together on a Friday afternoon when the entire Optare factory were in full on ‘churn it out and fuck off home’ mode. 

I had the misfortune to experience three of the sodding things - R100/200/300 PAR at Swanbrook in Cheltenham. It was a good day if all three were sent out and also returned at the scheduled time. I seem to recall they all had a habit of blowing coolant hoses out.

We bought 25 of the fuckers new between 1996 and 98 because they were cheap, and they found out why. Bits were falling off within days of them entering service. In fact the P and R reg ones were that bad they were traded in against some MAN 18.220s when only a few years old. When I was based at Pocklington we had one of the shorter ones allocated to the depot for a few months and the bastard thing spent more time in bits being repaired than on the road. 

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Come to think of it the MANs that replaced the Excels were shit as well, more reliable (though I realise that's not saying much lol, ANYTHING is more reliable than a fucking Excel apart from a Plaxton Primo) but they were awful to drive, the Bismark had a better turning circle than them. 

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Still wish I could get at one of those earlier MAN 18.220 (etc) buses in a boneyard...want to raid the instrument panel for all the warning lights.  There must be about 50 of them and I'm sure having a full set in the box of random panel indicators would mean I had ones with appropriate symbology for most applications I'd want a warning light for...

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50 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Those Plaxton Primos just look awful. The proportions are horrific with that short rear overhang. I appreciate this makes no difference to how the operate or drive, but even so.

I had the mispleasure of driving one of these once. The odd proportions definitely made it feel different compared to a standard bus with a tail end. Horrid thing it was.

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53 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Those Plaxton Primos just look awful. The proportions are horrific with that short rear overhang. I appreciate this makes no difference to how the operate or drive, but even so.

Was a horrible contraption obviously resulting from manufacturers trying to make something fully low floor which could fit into the dimensions of an old Merc Beaver.  It was such a huge compromise that it was never going to be able to do anything well...just a bunch of things poorly.

Could be worse though...Optare Alero anyone?

No less than six changes in direction in the prop shaft between the gearbox at the front and the driven axle at the back if I remember rightly (the propshaft runs under the offside sill). 

We had two on the community transport scheme back in Aberdeen and the blasted things were nothing but trouble in every conceivable way from day one.  We absolutely didn't want the second one, but couldn't sell the idea of getting a different second vehicle to those holding the purse strings.

Overcomplicated, overstressed and undercooled.  Being based in Iveco mechanicals at about their worse period probably didn't help!

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56 minutes ago, Lwk22 said:

I had the mispleasure of driving one of these once. The odd proportions definitely made it feel different compared to a standard bus with a tail end. Horrid thing it was.

The main problems with them were the amount of vibration and rattles on them, the way the door opened and the mirrors. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put the mirrors at just the right height to hit street furniture etc needed their head examined 

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1 hour ago, Lwk22 said:

I had the mispleasure of driving one of these once. The odd proportions definitely made it feel different compared to a standard bus with a tail end. Horrid thing it was.

The oddest thing I ever found to drive was an Optare Solo.  Having the front wheels right out front just feels wrong on anything that's not a Merc 809D Beaver...and makes the bus feel incredibly cumbersome for how small it actually is.

I'm hardly an experienced bus driver though and a decent chunk of the 100 or so hours I'd guess has been in vintage stuff, so I always feel a bit like a fish out of water in new things!

The Versa *looked* like it should be odd because of the really pointy nose and how the windscreen is narrower at the base than the top, but it didn't actually seem that strange once moving.  Went well too, but bloody rattly.

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