Brother fell from bus door and now in hospital

oliverp_2

Hi,

My brother, who is 15 (not an ASBO), has come home with a large gash in his cheek and above is eyebrow. He is currently at the local A&E and getting stitched up and a plastic surgeon is looking at the cuts. :eek:

Basically, he says that the bus began to pull away and close the doors before he was fully off. He says that when he looked up from the floor (he fell flat on his face) - the bus was pulling away. The bus did not stop after he fell.

I understand there is generally CCTV on buses these days, and it is my understanding that this can be accessed, if you want to, and/or you are involved in an incident.

Basically - we are querying about what to do next (parents at hospital with bro) as we are absolutely furious. He isn't the type who would make up about it driving off so we are at moment, taking that the bus did drive off before he was fully off and made no attempt to help.

We know the bus he was on, but he has chucked the ticket.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Rachel83

I would have thought that if you know what bus it was and what time the accident happened the bus company could look into it further? Try your luck at ringing them to ask, i'm sure someone will be helpful.

MrsTinks

Firstly I hope he's ok and not too shaken up!
Secondly unfortunately most of the CCTV camera's are notoriously rubbish on busses and IF you are lucky enough that it will show the right angle (doubtful) then the quality is usually very bad Half the time I don't know why they bother... My ex was a bus driver for a while and the amount of times the CCTV was out of order versus working was worrying - certainly not a safety feature for anyone let alone the bus drivers who often get assaulted!
If the CCTV wasn't working than unless your brother was travelling with other people it will be word against word on what happened as there is not likely to be witnesses.
That said - definitely encourage your parents to go in with a written complaint in hand and ask to speak to the manager tomorrow - they will be able to check the shifts and see who was on what route at that time to then question them. Do be aware that if they are off shift for a few days it's unlikely that they will contact them until they are back on shift...

Speedy recovery wishes to your brother.

Money_maker

If the bus depot gives you the brush off, try the national papers. They love this sort of story. A witness would be useful.

mackemlass29

I agree with the other posters your parents best bet is to report this incident to the bus
Company,you could try writing a letter to the local paper incase there are any witnesses. About 20 odd years ago My gran was involved in a bus accident,she was getting on a bus into town as she stepped on the driver closed the doors and drove to the next stop with hf of her body dragging along the road,it was only when a car behind bipped there horn that the driver realised what had happened.My Gran was very lucky but spent a long time in hospital. I hope your brother feels better soon.

clueless78

This might very well come under the definition of an injury road traffic collision, in which case your brother would need to report it to the Police, in person, within 24 hours.

The definition of an RTC is 'owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road, an accident occurs by which personal injury is caused to a person other than the driver of that motor vehicle'. This means that by law the driver should have stopped and exchanged details with the injured party.

Give your local Police a ring on the non emergency number (they're open 24 hours) and see if they define this as an RTC as above. If they do then as I said your brother will have to go into the Police Station in person to report it.

Hope he makes a swift recovery in any case.