European Coach accident

Author
Discussion

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
OK, bit of a hairy one!
Driving down through France 12/04/14 early hours of the morning the Holiday coach we are traveling on ploughs into a concrete contraflow pushing at least 3 of the concrete blocks a couple of feet into the lane of the oncoming traffic yikes I'm half asleep on the back seat but sitting directly in the aisle, there were overhead signs up displaying 110kph. The Coach had two drivers but one was asleep and I'm convinced the other driver just lost concentration for a split second and st happened!

So what happened next!

Driver pulled up at the side of the road (normally the hard shoulder)However because of the Concrete contraflow (on our side of the dual carriageway), the dual carriage way inside lane had been diverted into the Hard shoulder.
He pulled up about 300YDS (200mtrs?) after the impact and went off to see what he had hit! He had not put on a Hi Vis vest (French law) had not put the coach hazard warning lights and left us all on-board in a state of disbelief and shock!

Worse was to come in the form of a small convoy of lorry's which were coming down upon us, some switching to main beam and braking when realising we had stopped! EEK. Have to say I woke up as many people as possible realising we may get tail ended by a bloody great artic!

The coach drivers by this time realised they were in a sticky situation returned to the coach and promptly continued onward to the resort destination.

Now a few miles up the road a service station appeared, but the coach continued on past it and not one of the drivers walked down the isle to calm the passengers or asking them if they had hurt themselves.

The driver said he had hit a Deer,(this then changed to a rock) but this was complete bks as I had seen the coach riding up the concrete barriers and had confirmed this by the lorry Headlights lighting up the uneven line of bolted together concrete barriers as I looked out of the rear window of the coach!

When the coach did actually stop in a safe place to transfer other passengers to a mini bus to continue to their resort Hotel, I got out and inspected the front of the coach. The LHS of the coach had been badly damaged, the lower front bumper (just in front of the entrance door) was missing and all front headlights on the LHS were broken and hanging down with broken fibreglass, the coach front windscreen was also cracked.

As far as I'm aware neither Driver contacted the French Police and reported they had Hit something and that there may be wreckage or a dead animal on the carriageway!

Now just imagine how scary this must have been for the cars in the contraflow! I saw 3 cars break as they realised the barriers had been pushed into there lane making a pinch point that they had to squeeze through.

Now the owner of the company happened to be at the resort when we arrived the next morning and asked me for my side of the story before he spoke with the driver. I have heard the roomer that the driver has been dismissed, but can't confirm this?

It was later confirmed to me by the other driver that my account of things had been spot on and that when they returned the coach to the UK the following day they had passed the accident spot and seen the impact point in daylight!

Now being as this is a Holiday company, would they not be liable for not reporting the accident?

I have pictures of the damaged coach wink

Edited by fatboy18 on Friday 18th April 18:14

Roverload

850 posts

135 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
Wow that seems pretty hair raising, let's see the pics then!

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
Sadly I don't have the lead to connect my phone to my laptop with me frown

Will upload pics in a couple of days time wink

SV8Predator

2,102 posts

164 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
Sadly I don't have the lead to connect my phone to my laptop with me frown

Will upload pics in a couple of days time wink
No need, he was taking the piss.


Chrisgr31

13,440 posts

254 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
Not sure what the OP is seeking to achieve though. We all make mistakes and it could have been a lot worse and the driver seems to have lost his job. What else do you want?

r44flyer

457 posts

215 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
Pretty poor show from the driver. Had an artic hit the back and killed someone he'd be going to prison.

He should have been on the blower to the police straight away to get the road cleared.

Non-existant customer service in the very least.

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
Not sure what the OP is seeking to achieve though. We all make mistakes and it could have been a lot worse and the driver seems to have lost his job. What else do you want?
Well that's the point of the thread, I don't actually know if the driver has lost his job? Should the French Police be informed? Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them?

I would have thought the answer to that is Yes, but how would I know if this has been done?

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible?

Chrisgr31

13,440 posts

254 months

Friday 18th April 2014
quotequote all
But nothing did happen to them, the driver will be aware he's fouled up and hopefully be a better driver as a result.

dingg

3,974 posts

218 months

Saturday 19th April 2014
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Not sure what the OP is seeking to achieve though. We all make mistakes and it could have been a lot worse and the driver seems to have lost his job. What else do you want?
Well that's the point of the thread, I don't actually know if the driver has lost his job? Should the French Police be informed? Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them?

I would have thought the answer to that is Yes, but how would I know if this has been done?

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible?
Do you want the driver sacked? (its not your call)

do you want to inform the french police? (its up to you - go for it)

Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them? (ask them )

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible? (why? nothing happened )


thread much ado about nothing IMO


hunton69

659 posts

136 months

Saturday 19th April 2014
quotequote all
dingg said:
Do you want the driver sacked? (its not your call)

do you want to inform the french police? (its up to you - go for it)

Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them? (ask them )

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible? (why? nothing happened )


thread much ado about nothing IMO
In my opinion this is a warning to anyone who takes a coach holiday in to europe those long drives through the night are dangerous.
The problem with the 2 drivers is the period after midnight shift is so hard for that driver as he isn't tired enough to sleep earlier on in the evening. They should always have a courier and 2 must always be awake


tbc

3,017 posts

174 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
Get a whiplash claim in ASAP



only joking

Nickyboy

6,700 posts

233 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
Depends on what the driver was doing when the incident happened, if he'd dozed momentarily off then he probably didn't realize what he'd hit, if he didn't walk far enough down the carriageway to see the barriers then he probably wouldn't have known he'd hit them or may have thought he'd clipped one of them hence saying he'd hit a rock. Hitting a large deer would do similar damage to a coach considering the front is only fiberglass so if he had dozed off then its possible that's what he thought.

At the end of the day, you weren't injured. Reporting it has nothing to do with you so leave it for the tour operator/coach company to deal with it as they deem fit

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
Turns out the Driver HAS Been dismissed.

Pic does not show full extent of damage, Broken Windscreen, bent bumper framework behind damaged front!


I'm leaving as that, just glad to be home in one piece.




Edited by fatboy18 on Sunday 20th April 18:37

Nickyboy

6,700 posts

233 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
Turns out the Driver HAS Been dismissed.

Pic does not show full extent of damage, Broken Windscreen, bent bumper framework behind damaged front!


I'm leaving as that, just glad to be home in one piece.

Indeed, that is the main thing

TPS

1,860 posts

212 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
That's not really badly damaged,in fact it's quite minor.


berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
Looking at that photo I'm guessing he hit plastic lane dividers, concrete would have made a much bigger impact than that.
Still poor driving.

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
No read the beginning of the post rolleyes they were concrete barriers. He shoved 3 of them over a couple of feet causing a pinch point to oncoming traffic! He did not hit them Head on! The one he clipped was at an angle where the contraflow was diverting back traffic back onto the correct carriageway. There was a lot of bent metal behind that fibreglass part which needed to be pulled out. And as I said he was not speeding.

As I also said the pic off my phone is not showing the cracks to the windscreen.

Bottom line is you would have expected the Driver and Drivers mate to do the right thing and sadly they did not!

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
OK, bit of a hairy one!
Driving down through France 12/04/14 early hours of the morning the Holiday coach we are traveling on ploughs into a concrete contraflow
"Ploughs" into concrete and that's the damage, must have been at walking pace.

GC8

19,910 posts

189 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
dingg said:
fatboy18 said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Not sure what the OP is seeking to achieve though. We all make mistakes and it could have been a lot worse and the driver seems to have lost his job. What else do you want?
Well that's the point of the thread, I don't actually know if the driver has lost his job? Should the French Police be informed? Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them?

I would have thought the answer to that is Yes, but how would I know if this has been done?

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible?
Do you want the driver sacked? (its not your call)

do you want to inform the french police? (its up to you - go for it)

Does the Holiday Company have a legal responsibility to inform them? (ask them )

I had taken 5 18yr olds on a Holiday so feel if anything had happened to them I would somehow have to be responsible? (why? nothing happened )


thread much ado about nothing IMO
This thread does not reflect well on the OP. Not the opening post particularly, but after that it has gone downhill.

fatboy18

Original Poster:

18,930 posts

210 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
Was just looking for advice from someone who deals with public transport, never was interested in any stupid whiplash claims, just the legal responsibility's of a travel company and the required actions of the drivers.

I have tried to paint an accurate description of what happened.

I do wonder if any of you had been traveling with your friends or family's how you might have reacted? What if that had been You in your car in the contraflow and suddenly barriers are being pushed towards you by a bloody great coach!

I have other pics but they show the number plate of the coach and I have not mentioned the company name. I have Googled the company history and found a few other horror stories.
Needless to say I will not be using them again!

Edited by fatboy18 on Monday 21st April 20:50