Christmas crush. I had a 73 incident, many years ago. It was Christmas time, probably 1998, and I was hurrying to get to Euston to catch a train home to see my folks. I was laden down with about 5 or 6 bags, and as we pulled into Euston bus station, I stood up and headed for the platform. As I got there, I began to reach for the white pole, and had visions of me not being able to hold on. Sure enough, that's what happened, and I fell from the back of the bus! Fortunately my bags broke my fall. The conductor and passengers rushed off the bus to pick me up, and I departed for my train, feeling more than a little foolish and rather shaken! Posted by NeilJ | October 27, 2005 | 1.57PM | Euston

Assault. "There were two guys. They were drunk. They got on the bus and started swearing. When we came to South Tottenham, they wanted to get off the bus but unfortunately I had just rung two bells and my driver pulled away. When we got to Seven Sisters they started beating me up. They lit a cigarette and burnt my hand. They pushed me and I fell down." Bashka | Conductor | August 6, 2003 |South Tottenham to Seven Sisters.

Waving goodbye to dad. The bus was accelerating away from the bus stop with a four year old boy on the platform. Dad was sprinting behind in a gallant effort to jump on board. He didn't make it. The boy waved as the bus pulled into thick traffic and Dad kept running frantically trying to communicate for the boy to get off at the next stop. Posted by James | Architect | July, 2, 2003 |Oxford Street to Tottenham Court Road.

Tolerance. "Sometimes there is a situation where someone really wants to attack someone. And you can see where it's going before it actually goes so you’ll say I’ll give a little time to reel off and they reel off … then I gotta make a decision and then they have to go. Because at the end of the day, it's not only you – it's other people. They don’t have to know what happened last stop or who you fought with or what happened to you when you came on. Everybody’s life is different." Margery | Conductor | August 15, 2003

Memory."I’ve got an ability to forget from one stop to another because whatever happens here it really doesn’t affect the people who come on the next stop. They don’t need to know about it. You just keep moving. Who wants to argue." Margery | Conductor | August 15, 2003

The safety rail. The tape on the platform safety rail was unwinding at one place only. The rest of the tape above and below this spot was grimy but intact. It was as if every passenger, irrelevant of height, held onto the rail at exactly the same spot – around hip height or about 1.2metres. Posted by Kat | July, 24, 2003 | Euston Road to Islington.

Inbetween stops.
“This is not a stop.”
“This is not a stop.”
The conductor repeated the instruction about five times as people flowed passed him on and off the bus. The bus was between stops, stuck in heavy traffic made up of other buses and lots of taxis. He could do little apart from repeat himself. Some people smiled and thanked him as they exited, others flashed tickets as they boarded but no one heeded his advice. Posted by Kat | August 22, 2003 |Oxford Street.

Near Misses. “I have had loads of near misses with people nearly falling off. I mean some people just step back off a bus when it’s moving. I did have one person fall over. They just got on the bus, asked where it was going, I told them and they stepped back off it and the bus was moving. Of course they fell over.You wouldn’t believe where people come from sometimes. They come from nowhere”. David | Driver | August, 15, 2003 | Tottenham Garage.