London’s bus network was thrown into chaos as three buses were taken out of action by fire and crashes.
Incredibly, one bus in Twickenham burst into flames before burning completely, and in Southall, the E5 to Perivale crashed into a bus stop on South Road, causing extensive damage.
On the opposite side of London, on the 5 route between Canning Town and Romford, a new-style Routemaster struck the side of a home on East Ham’s Claughton Road. The three incidents all took place on Saturday.
Transport for London (TfL) had a hectic day. This was the fourth significant bus fire to affect its fleet this year, following similar occurrences in Wimbledon on January 11, North Woolwich on January 12, and Putney on January 25.
The East Ham incident went viral on TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, with a copy of the video on the Elon Musk-owned site picking up 60,000 views in a matter of hours.
The video showed the crash from multiple angles – as the bright red people mover was seen crashed into the house, mounted on the pavement.
It seems to have hit and knocked off a section of the roof of a building across the street. An alternative viewpoint indicated that it was a number 5 bus, which passes through the region along the adjacent Barking Road, a major thoroughfare.
Why the bus was on the residential street is a mystery. There does not appear to have been any scheduled detours on the route, according to London’s roadworks registry.
Multiple angles of the Southall crash were shared on social media. The shunt is believed to have happened sometime between 5 pm and 6 pm and decimated the bus stop, which was later seen wrapped up in tape.
The vehicle was dealt heavy damage in the collision, smashing the left side of the front windscreen and splitting open its front bumper.
There were pieces of safety glass strewn all over the pavement. The LED screen that showed the arrivals of upcoming flights stayed operational despite the disaster.
It had been changed to read: ‘Bus stop closed. Please use the next stop or the previous stop to catch your bus.’
The TfL website has been updated to say the bus stop is ‘reporting access issues’. Videos shared on Snapchat suggest the bus was removed from the scene sometime after nightfall.
A few miles away, at approximately 1 pm, Richmond Road in Twickenham, southwest London, was engulfed in massive flames and billowing smoke.
The London Fire Brigade said that although the fire damaged a single-decker bus, the driver and passengers managed to escape before rescue personnel could reach.
The road remains closed, with people advised to avoid the area for the rest of the day.
The issue is that foreign nationals operate an excessive number of buses, but let’s face it—if they can manoeuvre a dinghy, they can certainly operate a bus.
All fares please “Dinghy, Dinghy!”
A ban on the majority of these new drivers is necessary, as they have been engaged in several accidents and near misses, and it seems that a lot of these drivers are now quite reckless and it must be said that they seem to treat the public roads like a race track.
Bus drivers are dangerous, especially around London. They speed along or just take up two lanes, and now this is Khanage in Khantown, and now Whacky Races.
The majority of bus drivers in London are foreign nationals who most likely passed their driving exam while riding a donkey. They also don’t truly understand the English language.
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