Injured woman’s fears for safety of bus passengers

Judith Wilson, 63, of Willow Crescent, Durrington, under-went knee surgery after she claimed the driver of the Stagecoach Pulse bus she was travelling on pulled away too sharply causing ligaments in her knee to tear.

She had to take time off work to recover and endured a lengthy court dispute with Stagecoach.

She said: “It hurt an awful lot; it makes you nervous to travel on the bus.

“I stopped using buses completely for approximately three years. I still can’t kneel to wash the floor, clean out low-level cupboards or do my gardening – which I have sadly given up entirely.”

Judith contacted the Herald after reading about 46-year-old Mark Chandler who, just weeks ago, fell and hit his head on a Stagecoach Pulse bus when the driver pulled away sharply.

“How many more people are going to get hurt?

“They say they put the welfare of the passengers first but they clearly don’t,” she said.

Despite her criticism of some bus drivers, Judith was keen to point out that there were ‘nice and thoughtful’ drivers out there, too.

Judith said she thought drivers could do with more training.

“When I spoke to Stagecoach about this it appears the drivers are not instructed to wait for passengers to be seated unless there is an obvious sign of a disability,” she added.

Reaction to Mr Chandler’s accident on social media was fierce.

Pip Bennett wrote: “It’s about time they realised they are not rally drivers but BUS drivers!” While Jacqui Edwards simply put: “White knuckle rides!”

Stagecoach said they would be launching an internal investigation into Mr Chandler’s incident.

The company could not be reached for a comment.