Vision bus - students fall from upper deck window.

[Hunccy]

I heard this yesterday, and wondered how on earth it could have happened, unless they were larking about and somehow took the whole pane out of its housing. I hope it hasn't just fallen out, although if it had, I don't see how three kids would have fallen out afterwards. I guess the details will emerge in time......

Emergency window v Kids messing sounds more likely. Accidents are rarely pure accidents due to equipment failure and most preventable by the protagonists ie kids involved

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why would you introduce the opportunity for more human error (and vandalism due to exposed rubber) when you could specify a bus that is built to last?

The reason is quite simple - if a window is broken (which they often are e.g. due to kids throwing stones) you can quickly replace a gasket window and get it on its way whereas a broken window in a bonded glazed bus has it off the road for a number of hours while the glue dries. A larger bus company won't be badly affected by that, but a small one could be unable to operate a fair chunk of their service and thus lose a load of money. Plus they need more specialist equipment for replacing bonded windows which costs money.

It's clear that in terms of passenger experience and safety bonded double glazing is by far the superior option - no steaming, far fewer rattles and a more rigid vehicle that is going to be more crashworthy as a result (hence why you don't often get single glazed, gasket window coaches, as coaches are generally about quality, not just cost) - but the economics of that aren't always viable.

 

[mayneway]

Emergency window v Kids messing sounds more likely. Accidents are rarely pure accidents due to equipment failure and most preventable by the protagonists ie kids involved

Just to clarify, it wasn’t an emergency exit. It was a standard side window.

 

[DunsBus]

Would you mind supplying some links to these social media videos that depict windows falling out of "gasket vehicles"? I've travelled on buses and coaches with both gasket- and bonded-glazed windows for decades and I've never once encountered an issue with either type.

That's not to say that there have never been any instances of windows falling out. As an example, in the early 1980s my local company was supplied with a batch of ECW-bodied Leyland Olympians that had hoppers in the upper deck front windows but:


If, as has been suggested (without any sources), the cause was a "pile-up" of kids against a window, what can you do? You can legislate as much as you like but kids will be kids.



* Peter Findlay, "The Buses of Northern Scottish" p52

Eastern Scottish also had a batch of these Olympians, which had the same problem and saw their vented front windows replaced by fixed glass ones within a year.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For what it's worth I have witnessed a window falling out of a bus, but only once. It was some sort of North Western operated double decker at Ormskirk bus station in the early 1990s. If I recall rightly it very narrowly missed someone walking past. It seemed to happen completely on its own, nobody was sitting near it nor leaning on it, indeed I think the bus was empty.

 

[Tim33160]

Leaving aside the glass and the type of windows - how is it THREE kids fell from the window on the side of the bus???

Standing on the seat to get height? then out through the hole ??

 

[Bletchleyite]

Leaving aside the glass and the type of windows - how is it THREE kids fell from the window on the side of the bus???

Standing on the seat to get height? then out through the hole ??

My guess would be that a group of them were fighting and three were pushed against the window, which then pushed out and they all overbalanced and fell out after it. That does seem to fit with the video that is knocking around on social media showing them falling out (from a distance).

Most accounts seem to blame the kids for their conduct, so I doubt they were sitting properly when it happened.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

My guess would be that a group of them were fighting and three were pushed against the window, which then pushed out and they all overbalanced and fell out after it. That does seem to fit with the video that is knocking around on social media showing them falling out (from a distance).

Most accounts seem to blame the kids for their conduct, so I doubt they were sitting properly when it happened.

It would be impossible to be sitting neatly and then three people all fall out of a window at the same time.
They will no doubt have some explaining to do (to their parents, if not the school too)

 

[WibbleWobble]

Just to clarify, it wasn’t an emergency exit. It was a standard side window.

I've seen a post on Facebook suggesting the police were saying it was an emergency exit, so maybe that's where the confusion has come from.

Unfortunately as it was one of those random pages (albeit a local to the area community group) that appears on one's feed as a suggested page, and not one I follow, I'll probably never see it again!

 

[Trainman40083]

It would be impossible to be sitting neatly and then three people all fall out of a window at the same time.
They will no doubt have some explaining to do (to their parents, if not the school too)

I think on an earlier post on this thread, it was described as "eight school children piling in". No wonder the window gave up. When I was at school, any misbehaviour was dealt with. Off the bus

 

[pokemonsuper9]

When I was at school, any misbehaviour was dealt with. Off the bus

It's up to the driver, and the driver may well not have known anything was happening.
I'm not familiar with Vision's vehicles but most Wright Gemini 2s I'm familiar with only have the driver's camera showing the stairs, not the whole top deck.

 

[Trainman40083]

It's up to the driver, and the driver may well not have known anything was happening.
I'm not familiar with Vision's vehicles but most Wright Gemini 2s I'm familiar with only have the driver's camera showing the stairs, not the whole top deck.

I seriously doubt drivers are permitted to chuck pupils off, these days . Duty of care etc. I suppose years ago, there was a conductor

 

[D1511]

I seriously doubt drivers are permitted to chuck pupils off, these days . Duty of care etc. I suppose years ago, there was a conductor

For the school children of today, the drivers ought to be issued with TASERs.....

 

[Trainman40083]

For the school children of today, the drivers ought to be issued with TASERs.....

I have seen a few loaded double decker school buses in my area.. Bus driver seems to just want to get to the end of the route, in the shortest possible time. One driver I know, used to be in the army. He warned them what would happen if they misbehaved. They ignored him, so he took them back to school and got the head teacher out. .

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I have seen a few loaded double decker school buses in my area..

Double decker school buses are everywhere in Manchester at school run times.

Bus driver seems to just want to get to the end of the route, in the shortest possible time.

Including going 45mph in a 30, and pretending 20mph restrictions never became a thing.

 

[mangad]

I think on an earlier post on this thread, it was described as "eight school children piling in". No wonder the window gave up. When I was at school, any misbehaviour was dealt with. Off the bus

When I was at school (early 1990s) the same. Next day, at school, after the event...

The number of times in assembly I heard the refrain "all boys on the 389 bus yesterday, WILL stay behind."

I went to a strict school. We didn't have school buses. We used public buses. But issues didn't get resolved on the day by any means.

I believe some high schools go to the extent of having teaching staff travel on particularly troublesome services. My eldest goes to a high school where anyone travelling on a school bus must have a school issued pass, as well as the TFGM required tickets, and apparently they are checked by staff before the buses leave school in the afternoon. and no doubt can be revoked if needs be. Schools can do things if they choose to.

 

[M60lad]

Regarding having School Staff on the bus how do they get home afterwards? Surely its an inconvenience to the driver having to return to the School to drop them off also considering a few School Services can run onto service work afterwards they might not be able to get back.

As for drivers returning kids to the School I have actually heard of this happening quite a few times in the past due to their behaviour.

I also remember speaking to a number of drivers I know/knew in the past and while some of them didn't mind doing the School duties there were quite a number of Schools that they would dread doing as they knew what the behaviour of the kids was like and it was the same virtually every day and also for obvious reasons before they went out on their relevant School duty they would go round the bus and bin any free Metro (Newspapers) that were still on the vehicle.

 

[Tim33160]

Extra security on bus route after boys plunge from the top deck​

TravelSafe officers have been stationed on the 950 service
​

The moment the boys fall from the window(Image: )
Extra security has been introduced on a bus route after an incident which saw three boys plunge out of the window from the top deck.
An investigation has been launched into the incident on a 950 service on Wednesday January 7 as the double decker was pulling away from Bolton Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
The boys, two aged 13 and one 14, were taken to hospital but their injuries are not thought to be in a life-threatening. The incident was captured on CCTV.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...-news/extra-security-bus-route-after-33204456

Travelsafe officers wear grey boiler suits and body armour - usually employed checking tickets etc

 

[mayneway]

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...-news/extra-security-bus-route-after-33204456

Travelsafe officers wear grey boiler suits and body armour - usually employed checking tickets etc

Ironic as Andy Burnham stated in the hours after the incident that it wasn’t a Bee Network branded service and suddenly Bee Network TSO’s are seen on the service.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jan 2026 ==

As for drivers returning kids to the School I have actually heard of this happening quite a few times in the past due to their behaviour.

Way back in the late 90’s our school was served by Maynes buses. We were animals on them services and bench seats would get ripped apart cushions thrown around the top deck, infact Maynes would purposely swap their new Tridents and scania’s for older vehicles as they passed the depot in Clayton.
Drivers on more than one occasion turned buses around and headed back to the school when all hell broke loose and at one point all drivers were given images of our school tie and told not to pick any of us up.

 

[Tetchytyke]

For the school children of today, the drivers ought to be issued with TASERs.....

Kids have always been like this, and always will be like this. Undeveloped brains don’t understand danger. It’s all fun and games bouncing against a window until the frame gives way.

Kids were just as badly behaved when I was at high school in the early 90s, and just as badly behaved when my parents were at high school in the 60s. There really is nothing new under the sun, it’s just that with camera phones and CCTV you get to see what they’re up to now.

Until I saw the CCTV I did wonder how the window gave way, as you’d expect it to take quite a bit of force otherwise people would be ejected from the bus in a crash.

But the CCTV from a nearby building shows just how many kids were pushing against it. Most managed to scrabble back inside the bus but three of them didn’t.

 

[mangad]

Ironic as Andy Burnham stated in the hours after the incident that it wasn’t a Bee Network branded service and suddenly Bee Network TSO’s are seen on the service.

Well he's correct. It wasn't a Bee Network branded service. It is, however, a Bee Network school bus service.

 

[DunsBus]

Kids have always been like this, and always will be like this. Undeveloped brains don’t understand danger. It’s all fun and games bouncing against a window until the frame gives way.

Kids were just as badly behaved when I was at high school in the early 90s, and just as badly behaved when my parents were at high school in the 60s. There really is nothing new under the sun, it’s just that with camera phones and CCTV you get to see what they’re up to now.

Until I saw the CCTV I did wonder how the window gave way, as you’d expect it to take quite a bit of force otherwise people would be ejected from the bus in a crash.

But the CCTV from a nearby building shows just how many kids were pushing against it. Most managed to scrabble back inside the bus but three of them didn’t.

Not just in urban areas, either. For a couple of years in the early 1990s two Fleetlines were allocated to Lowland at Berwick for schools contracts - one serving Berwickshire High School, the other serving Eyemouth High School - and the kids ran riot.

In the case of the Berwickshire High contract things got so bad that teachers frequently rode shotgun to keep order, another teacher following the bus in a car to provide back up and to get the one riding shotgun back to Duns.

Despite pleas from the school, parents, prefects, the parent/teacher association, teachers and drivers, the local authority at the time (Borders Region) refused to back down, its rather weak excuse being that as the contract called for a double-decker then that was what was being provided. Eventually, though, it backed down and from the start of the 1992-93 school year a 60-seat Seddon was allocated to the run instead, much to the relief of everyone though, I suspect, not the kids.

 

[oldman]

Kids were just as badly behaved when I was at high school in the early 90s, and just as badly behaved when my parents were at high school in the 60s.

I was a teenager in Liverpool in the 60s and children on the whole were more likely to accept petty authority - school janitors, bus conductors, shop staff, random adults. They didn't know their rights, they didn't have parents who would take their side. For better or worse (sometimes definitely worse) it was a more disciplined and authoritarian world.

 

[Trainman40083]

My school bus had about 80 kids on. Boys downstairs, girls upstairs. The boys would have to sit 3 to a seat, stand or go upstairs and sit with the girls....But there was more boys than girls. One day, the boys took over the upstairs, making the girls go downstairs. .The school teachers noticed and spoke to the bus crew. "No they are fine. They are really well behaved, and as long as that continues...." We were well behaved too, because the alternatives were worse, and there were school prefects on. Some of the school buses are registered to carry normal passengers to the stop before a school. No idea if anyone is brave enough.

 

[StoneRoad]

Back in the early 70s I was bused 13miles one way to school.

At that time, we were told, very forcefully, that good behaviour was both expected and required. Effectively we represented our school from when we left home to our returning there. And that school rules applied during that time.

Some years after I had left that school I bumped into one of the drivers - doing a coach tour to the Nth Wales N-G railway where I worked. During our conversation over coffee he said that he was still quite happy with transporting my old school but not some of the other local ones, and preferred doing tours !

 

[Mikey C]

I love the Gemini 1 and 2 design because of its deep upper deck windows, but it had occurred to me that if a window was to fall out, it wouldn't be hard to fall out as the window height is so low.

The Gemini 3/Streetdeck design has shallow windows which I hate, but would be far harder to fall out of

 

[Snex]

I love the Gemini 1 and 2 design because of its deep upper deck windows, but it had occurred to me that if a window was to fall out, it wouldn't be hard to fall out as the window height is so low.

The Gemini 3/Streetdeck design has shallow windows which I hate, but would be far harder to fall out of

To be fair, as someone who has DB300's on their local route, I can't see any logical way how you can fall out of the window if you were seated and using the bus properly upstairs. There's just no logical reason to be standing near / leaning on the window.

 

[Wyrleybart]

The only real sanction is failure to adhere to conditions of carriage and withdraw their season tickets.

Of course it will hurt their parents, or perhaps the kids themselves if parents porn their phones to cover cost of alternative transport, until they have leant their lesson.

Respectfully think you meant pawn rather than porn !!!!

 

[stevieinselby]

Regarding having School Staff on the bus how do they get home afterwards? Surely its an inconvenience to the driver having to return to the School to drop them off also considering a few School Services can run onto service work afterwards they might not be able to get back.

Presumably they would be on the same bus in the morning as well, so it would either be staff who lived near the end of the route or would drive/cycle/get a lift to the end of the route in the morning and then back again in the afternoon.

 

[Leyland Bus]

Respectfully think you meant pawn rather than porn !!!!

Well, you never know with some parents these days!