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UPDATE: Bus blaze causing Handy Cross delays

4:50pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in


THE A404 has reopened in both directions following a bus fire on the Handy Cross roundabout which caused traffic delays earlier this afternoon.

The fire on board the Arriva bus started at about 4.10pm on the northbound carriageway of the A404.

The emergency services raced to the scene and cordoned off the A404 in both directions while firefighters tackled the blaze. All lanes re-opened at 5pm.

No-one was injured in the fire, which watch manager John Franklin of High Wycombe fire station said started at the engine-end of the bus.

He said: “By the time we battled through the traffic, the fire was going very well by then.

"The driver, who looked like he was a mechanic by the way he was dressed, was well out of the way.”

Motorist Tracey Gray said earlier today: “I had just picked my daughter up from school in Bourne End and the emergency services had just block off the road.

"It's pretty spectacular.”

An out of service Arriva bus burst into flames in almost the same spot on the High Wycombe roundabout in June (see link).

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Comments(23)

Slacker says...
5:02pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Bus fires are like buses - you don't see any for ages then two come along at once.

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iworld says...
5:02pm Thu 2 Sep 10

The second bus fire at Handy Cross in a space of a couple of months! Coincidence? Do Arriva buses spontaneously combust at Handy Cross?

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JP80 says...
5:10pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Slacker wrote:
Bus fires are like buses - you don't see any for ages then two come along at once.
Absolute genius :)

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chris740 says...
5:12pm Thu 2 Sep 10

one good reason to put the fares up,
should stop the drivers smoking in them

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miccles says...
5:12pm Thu 2 Sep 10

It is always Arriva buses, i'm sure half of them are not roadworthy, they certainly don't look it.

There must be something wrong with the maintenance of them, otherwise they simply wouldn't keep catching fire.

And they say use public transport, not Arriva thankyou very much.

I think somebody should look into all these fires.

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polandking says...
5:18pm Thu 2 Sep 10

These old piece of **** slow uncomftable buses you better off driving your car. You have idiot teenagers playing music loud on phones and bad smells.
-
And i seen these idiot drivers on phone while driving.

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polandking says...
5:27pm Thu 2 Sep 10

polandking wrote:
These old piece of **** slow uncomftable buses you better off driving your car. You have idiot teenagers playing music loud on phones and bad smells. - And i seen these idiot drivers on phone while driving.
One nearly scraped my prestige german saloon (i wont say which make hehe) near half moon pub.

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Edcert says...
7:01pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Arriva buses are a flaming nuisance!

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weyfarer says...
7:39pm Thu 2 Sep 10

The Wycombe Arriva depot is the poor relation for sure. They never get new vehicles (unless taxpayer subsidised) unlike other depots like Aylesbury which got 13 new buses not too long ago.
Old bangers go wrong, why always the fireworks in Wycombe inconveniencing everyone else on the roads?

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Slimster says...
9:32pm Thu 2 Sep 10

I saw this just as it was starting (and it was more like 3:45pm, not 4:10pm - I was in Wallingford by 4:10pm). The bus was in the queue for the lights at the roundabout after the long slog up the A404 hill from Marlow. I can only assume something got cooked in that long haul up the hill. There was lots of smoke when i went past so passengers had plenty of time to get out. Scarey.
+
People need to stop moaning about the buses - I'm sure the bus company would love to buy shiney new ones. IMO the government should never have opened up the market like this - other countries in Europe have much better services due to no competition on routes.

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miccles says...
11:07pm Thu 2 Sep 10

weyfarer wrote:
The Wycombe Arriva depot is the poor relation for sure. They never get new vehicles (unless taxpayer subsidised) unlike other depots like Aylesbury which got 13 new buses not too long ago. Old bangers go wrong, why always the fireworks in Wycombe inconveniencing everyone else on the roads?
I agree entirely, in January when i was snowed in, had to go to work to Aylesbury on the bus, the 300's are smart buses, and i must say it was quite a pleasure to go to work on the bus, but the wycombe buses are bloody cr*p, you never see anything like this with Carousel buses.

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erm says...
12:07am Fri 3 Sep 10

Bucks fire say 3.48pm for the 999 call. Besides isn't that the same photo as the previous bus fire, or is it the same bus still smouldering?

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ferrellcat says...
12:18am Fri 3 Sep 10

ferrari have just recalled there 270k 0-60 in 3.4 second cars because of a melt down and too many fires in crucial parts.One person in one car. Arriva you have at stake hundreds of people every day and too many fires for a public service to find acceptable

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JLB664 says...
12:22am Fri 3 Sep 10

Drove past this and it was so scary - it has just happened, the emergency services weren't there yet, I just waited for the cars in front of me to get past and onto Handy Cross, then drove really swiftly past the burning bus - had my husband and daughter in the car and was SOOO frightened that the bus was going to explode - and the HEAT when we passed - woow - even though we had no windows open.......v-e-r-y s-c-a-r-y......

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Lividov says...
2:01am Fri 3 Sep 10

i drove past on the roundabout to go down the c1000 to marlow bottom and i think i saw a stupid woman with a man and a girl in the car drive past the bus in the outside lane. what was she thinking? why did she even contemplate driving past putting herself and her passengers at risk. the bus was an inferno. the tyres were blazing and the foam interior was spewing thick choking black smoke and still the vehicle drove past. she must have been pooping her pants! what made her think that the vehicle would not explode at any time? why did the feeling of fear not prevent her driving past that lethal ball of flame? i suppose we'll never know...

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miccles says...
9:07am Fri 3 Sep 10

ferrellcat wrote:
ferrari have just recalled there 270k 0-60 in 3.4 second cars because of a melt down and too many fires in crucial parts.One person in one car. Arriva you have at stake hundreds of people every day and too many fires for a public service to find acceptable
agree with this one.

It will get to a point where they are playing with peoples lives.

They will find a cover up for the ongoing fires i'm sure.

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dholderd says...
10:46am Fri 3 Sep 10

Stick To A Car Or Superbike much better and faster

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cressexpert says...
12:36pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Clearly this week's hot ticket?

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vocal local says...
12:39pm Fri 3 Sep 10

iworld wrote:
The second bus fire at Handy Cross in a space of a couple of months! Coincidence? Do Arriva buses spontaneously combust at Handy Cross?
come on now, lets not start a blazing row!

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Ewartwhatyoubulldoze says...
2:14pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Oh let's! I'll bring the marsh mallows.

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sportsturf says...
11:57pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Why dont VOSA do an inspection of the whole fleet of Arriva busses that run out of the Cressex depot, as someone pointed out earlier....the best part of the fleet are not roadworthy....i followed one up the C1000 from marlow bottom to handy X and i was in my tractor doing 18 mph on his tail...and the bus was chucking out plumes of deisel smoke as it was working to pull itself up the hill....these old buses cannot cope with the hills anymore like C1000 or A404...they just overheat..they always smell of burnt oil, rubber where belts are slippng,...mind you the drivers are no better...we had one bus hit one of our tractors then drive off, we followed him to the depot where the driver in broken english denied hitting us....so on inspection of the bus, there were huge tyre scraps down the side of the bus .....they whole company needs a big remodelling.....

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X3SGR says...
3:09pm Sun 5 Sep 10

I have heard that this bus was leaking diesel in Reading so an engineer was called out and decided it was safe for him to drive back to High Wycombe (seems not!!!) should the health and safety executive not be investigating this or does someone have to die first?

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Trip says...
11:59am Mon 6 Sep 10

An Arriva single decker caught fire on the A4155 just before entering Henley on the 7th July. Luckily the fire service got there before the flames managed to do any serious damage and everyone had plenty of time to get off the bus.

Is that three serious incidents in just a few months?

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