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Bus smashes into shop front as driver fights off knife robbers
Danny Brierley and Peter Dominczak12 Mar 2009
A double-decker bus carrying dozens of passengers smashed into a car and a shop as its driver fought off two teenage robbers who attacked him with knives as he drove along a busy south London street.
Commuters endured a terrifying late-night ride as the driver of the number 250 bus refused to stop and hand over the contents of his cash box.
Onlookers watched in horror as the bus, which was carrying 27 passengers, swerved across a road before going through a red light and then into the path of another vehicle before careering into the front of a newsagents.
The drama began at about 10pm, shortly after the bus, which runs between Brixton and Croydon, had pulled away from a stop in Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath.
Witnesses described seeing the driver and the robbers struggling with each other as the bus travelled at about 30mph along the road. It is thought that rather than give in to their demands, the driver tried to fend off the pair as they tried to stab him in the head.
But the fight caused him to lose control of the vehicle, which crashed into a Vauxhall Vectra saloon after driving through a red light. The impact forced the bus to career across to the wrong side of Parchmore Road, close to its junction with Beulah Road, before crashing into the newsagents.
Police sources said the two young robbers fled when the driver opened the bus doors.
Fearing they would return with reinforcements, the driver carried on his journey, along with his passengers, into Croydon. The driver of the black Vauxhall, a woman in her thirties, was not seriously injured in the crash. None of the 27 passengers nor the bus driver was injured either.
The shop was closed at the time of the crash but a tenant in a flat above called the police.
Shop owner Robin Patel, 51, said: "By the time I got there it was a scene of total destruction. The woman who was driving the car told me the bus driver was trying to stop the teenagers stabbing him in the head. Nobody was in the shop at the time and luckily no one was walking past."
The married father of two said it had caused about £15,000 of damage. He added: "We have problems with youths around here but never anything like this."
No arrests have been made so far.
A TfL spokeswoman confirmed that the bus had hit a car and a shop-front, but refused to confirm whether the driver had been threatened with a knife.
The incident comes as figures show the number of physical attacks on bus drivers in London is increasing.
The latest statistics available from Transport for London show there were 1,116 attacks on bus drivers in 2007. Of those, almost 120 were classed as serious assaults.
The previous year, there were 1,001 assaults on drivers. Of those, 135 were serious assaults.
Reader views (19)
The is every liklihood of incidents like this incresing given the way Roadside Ticket Machines (RTM) are now being removed, no doubt at the behest of Boris Johnson.
In fact with the conversion of Route 38 from Artic to Double Deck buses later this year it is planned to re-introduce cash fares on a route that runs through a part of London where guns are regulary carried!
The fact is with only about 3% of fares being paid using cash Boris should be installing more RTM's and finally removing use of cash on buses, something that can as nearly happened here lead to loss of life often for just a few pounds.
Whatever Boris says about Routemaster buses we can never go back to the days of a lone conductor dealing with cash.
Yet again Boris is bshowing how little he understands the dangers faced by transport workers and perhaps its time the bus workers refused to accept payment in cash, before one of them gets killed.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 13/03/2009 00:44
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"Fearing they would return with reinforcements, the driver carried on his journey". Since when was it okay to drive off and leave the scene of an accident? For all the driver new the driver of the Ventra could have been seriously hurt.
- Nj, London, 12/03/2009 17:22
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Good man that Driver. He deserves some recognition/reward.
- Jim, London, 12/03/2009 16:28
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Theu arc all on CCTV so lock the losers up for a very long time
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 12/03/2009 15:51
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The drivers should have CCTV, no one with a Hood type clothing should be allowed on the bus. Slightly discounted pre-trip tickets should be available so that drivers dont have to handle so much cash.
- Jim@Sea, Offshore, 12/03/2009 15:01
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Daveb, I don't expect that the driver expected to be fighting for his life for saying "No". Your response epitomises all that's wrong with society these days: always blame the victim and excuse the criminal.
When these thugs are caught, what'll they get? Community service? A good telling off? Help with anger management? A reward if they don't actually kill anyone in the next twelve months? They put dozens of lives at risk, not just the driver's. They should be convicted of the attempted murder of every passenger on the bus, and shouldn't see the outside of a jail for a very long time. It's called punishment and deterrence.
Regrettably, it's also time that TfL abolished cash fares on buses, removing all incentive to rob drivers. Oystercard or pre-purchased tickets only. Oyster is already half the price, so it baffles me why there's anyone using anything else.
- Nigel, London, 12/03/2009 14:53
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So, the passengers just watched?
- Trunk, US, 12/03/2009 14:51
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Knife crime among teenagers has become a way of life and "cool" for them. Parents are equally responsible for not inculcating the right values in their kids. But what can you expect when 14 year olds have kids and drop out of school? This is the breed of parents who give rise to such violent kids. Due to their lack of education they do not get good jobs which in turn leads to a lot of frustration. Frustrated parents bring up frustrated kids who think violence is the answer to everything. STOP HAVING KIDS IF YOU CAN'T RAISE THEM PROPERLY. Indiscriminate sex and irresponsible pregnancies has got to stop. Educate yourself, get married and then have kids, and bring them up in a stable loving atmosphere. This will end all knife crime. Kids who grow up with their biological parents in a loving family will never resort to such crime. Knife crime and gun crime is more prevalent in countries with high rate of divorce, broken marriages and teenage pregnancies.
- J, London, 12/03/2009 14:11
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Why don't London Transport Buses have their own security van fleet which could provide instant response to this sort of eventuality as the police do not seem to want to patrol any more?
- Mike Kimmins, Bexley, Kent, 12/03/2009 14:05
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so the bus driver risked passengers lives, pedestrians lives, and other drivers lives to protect a cash box that belonged to TFL...what a maniac... we dont need have a go heroes like this...
- Daveb, london, 12/03/2009 14:00
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In North London a lot of the buses are pre-pay so that the drivers do not carry any money. I think all buses should be like that to protect the drivers.
- Jan, London, 12/03/2009 13:55
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I thought majority of buses have cctv cameras?
I thought these drivers had direct contact with the police, by a press of a button?
- Adrian, london, 12/03/2009 13:41
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Last evening a young man shouted at a driver for not pulling into a stop properly. But a parked vehicle and another bus prevented the driver from doing this. The public are pretty awful towards drivers and I commend this driver. I always say thank you when I swipe my card.
- Peter, London, 12/03/2009 13:36
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I am sure the media team in the Mayor's office are working flat out and sparing no expense to develop a response to this.
- Patrick, Dalston, 12/03/2009 13:08
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Hope the bus driver is O.K.and hope they catch them!
- Jo, London, 12/03/2009 12:40
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This needs to be implemented in the new driving course quickly.
Or alternately get a visible Police Force back on the streets.
- Roger, Surrey, 12/03/2009 12:33
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Strange, I've been on buses before where kids have tried to rob the driver, and the driver will just trigger the silent alarm, pull over, turn off the engine and say "The police are already on their way, you gonna wait for them?"
Most of the buses have strong perspex screens to protect the driver - I wonder what happened here?
- Steve, Sutton, 12/03/2009 11:55
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if caught lets hope the courts will take note ,another knife crime. when we bring out a real deterent to protect the inocent?
- Robert Phelps, bussiere poitevine, 12/03/2009 11:28
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Clearly we need more real street and transport policeing with uniformed police and funding diverted to support it.
Boris should drop the recent fund waisting initiaties and get stuck into the real issues that bother Londoners Crime, Jobs and Services!
- Maurice, London, 12/03/2009 11:26
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