Buses Driving Through Floodwater

[Dinsdale]

There is a video going around of a Stagecoach route 99 bus driving through a flooded road in Bexhill, East Sussex. This has been picked up by the local press and a story is on the SussexWorld website. Apparently, Stagecoach have "launched a probe". Do you think this was dangerous?

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/new...ugh-3ft-of-flood-water-in-east-sussex-4400431

Text:

Probe launched after video emerges of bus driving through 3ft of flood water in East Sussex
An investigation has been launched after a bus was caught on camera driving through 3 feet of flood water under a bridge on Saturday (November 4).

The no 99 Stagecoach bus, which runs from Hastings to Eastbourne, was heading to Eastbourne when it came up against the flooded road under the bridge in Westcourt Drive, Bexhill.

It was captured driving through the water and the video was posted on YouTube on the urban rot channel.

The bus is then seen stopping at a bus stop with passengers disembarking, while water gushes out from the main doors as they open.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said: "We are aware of this incident, and are taking it extremely seriously.

“The safety of our passengers and colleagues is our highest priority. We have very clear protocols in place regarding floodwater situations and we are actively investigating the incident at Bexhill on Saturday.”

Later several cars are seen attempting to pass through the water under the bridge, some succeeding, while others turning back.

Direct link to video:

 

[Geordie driver]

Dangerous? No.

Daft? Yes.

Yes I have done this, not with passengers on but way deeper than that.

Tiny country lane, 5am in the morning, pitch black, I was committed and there was no way I could have reversed out of it.

Bristol VR i was driving, it just shrugged it off.

 

[GusB]

Other than the fact that there must have been a few passengers with wet feet (noting the amount of water discharged when the door opened), it's not exactly a good idea to drive into floodwater if you cannot see the state of he underlying road surface.

 

[Ken H]

Other than the fact that there must have been a few passengers with wet feet (noting the amount of water discharged when the door opened), it's not exactly a good idea to drive into floodwater if you cannot see the state of he underlying road surface.

Also consider where the exhaust and air intakes are.

 

[Busaholic]

Other than the fact that there must have been a few passengers with wet feet (noting the amount of water discharged when the door opened), it's not exactly a good idea to drive into floodwater if you cannot see the state of he underlying road surface.

I don't remember the details. but there was a bus in Wales, single deck I believe, which did this a few years ago. It got stuck, people had to be rescued, there was a lot of media attention and iirc the driver got sacked.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Had this just over a week ago (Sunday 29 October 2023) with an Arriva Norhumbria E400mmc operating X18, around Pegswood.

 

[Tetchytyke]

A bus driver did this in York a few years ago and was jailed.

Driver of school bus stranded in York flood water jailed for a year

Graham Jones drove vehicle into deep water caused by Storm Frank near Newton-on-Ouse, with 23 children onboard

www.theguardian.com

A school bus driver, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in flood water with 23 children onboard, has been jailed for a year.

A jury at York crown court heard that the former soldier Graham Jones, 43, ignored evidence of flooding during Storm Frank last winter and drove his bus into thigh-deep water near the village of Newton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire.

 

[YorkRailFan]

A bus driver did this in York a few years ago and was jailed.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ed-in-york-flood-water-jailed-for-a-year[/URL

The article does note that rescuers had to break the rear window to rescue children onboard. Definitely a different situation compared to a driver going through floodwater and continuing normally with no issue.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Definitely a different situation compared to a driver going through floodwater and continuing normally with no issue

The driver in York misjudged the depth of the flood water and the bus got stuck as a result. But that’s the risk you take when you drive into flood water.

I’d be very surprised if that Stagecoach driver doesn’t get a P45.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Of course, floodwater can look shallower than it actually is.

 

[randyrippley]

Stagecoach have had a few previous experiences like this where things have gone wrong.
One was at Sandside, Cumbria on the east end of Morecambe Bay where a bus got stuck after a driver tried to get through a storm surge/flood/10 metre tide. Passengers had to be escorted off, the bus was wrecked losing most of its paintwork and lower body panels.
Another was in 2016 in South Ayrshire where the RAF had to airlift the passengers including several schoolkids out after a bus got stuck in a flood

I doubt if they want a repeat

 

[Bletchleyite]

Of course, floodwater can look shallower than it actually is.

Or the road may have failed below it such that you can't see.

 

[AndrewE]

This is a story I have retold quite recently, although I can't find it here. (Just found it... 3 weeks ago under Storm Babet.)

About 20 years ago [on a coach in central] Morocco we crossed a long causeway in a coach driving through shallow (but flowing) water. We were told that the previous week it had only got through when the water was deeper by emptying the luggage space underneath and proceding with the doors open both sides to let the water in one side and out the other!

 

[MCR247]

Was the alarm coming from the bus?

 

[YorkRailFan]

Or the road may have failed below it such that you can't see.

True, although I doubt it, as I regularly use that bus service and I doubt that a road like that would fail.

 

[padbus]

This link should take you to a YouTube video of a Stagecoach bus on route 380 (Axminster-Exeter) going through floodwater as the road dips under a low railway bridge near Honiton. The clip dates back 2012 so the bus is probably a Pointer Dart. The fate of the driver is unknown to me.

 

[YorkRailFan]

This link should take you to a YouTube video of a Stagecoach bus on route 380 (Axminster-Exeter) going through floodwater as the road dips under a low railway bridge near Honiton. The clip dates back 2012 so the bus is probably a Pointer Dart. The fate of the driver is unknown to me.

Filled with school children by the looks of things, everyone would have had soggy feet. I dread to think if there had been a wheelchair user as they may have had water up to their knees.

 

[Merle Haggard]

The best bus for floodwater would surely be a Bristol RELL with ECW body. The engine air intake is a forward-facing vent at the rear on the roof nearside and then there's trunking to the engine, so the engine wouldn't hydraulic in less than 12' of water.
The downside of that system was discovered by Trent when someone (in Alfreton I think) threw a bag of disagreeable chips in the air in disgust as an RE passed and, presumably by chance, they hit the roof and were then drawn in, resulting in the Gardner ingesting them.

 

[matchmaker]

When I lived in Glasgow, there was a section of road under a railway bridge which regularly flooded.

Clarence Drive

The pavements are raised about two feet above the road surface at this point. However, if you don't know the road you can't tell this if there is two feet of water in it...more than once I saw a Glasgow Corporation PD2/24 charge through the floodwater without a problem. The problem came for any car which tried to emulate the Titans feat!

 

[90019]

Also consider where the exhaust and air intakes are.

Exhaust level doesn't matter for driving through water, and the location of the intake within the engine bay at the rear of the bus means it's very unlikely to get any significant amount of water in while traveling forward.

If the intake was low enough* to cause the engine to flood in a situation like this, it would cause problems any time it was raining enough to have standing water on the roads.


*and it'd have to be aimed forwards, too.