South Yorkshire Times – Friday 27 April 1934
Car and Bus Collision at Manvers Bridge
Bus Driver Fined
A collision near Manvers Main bridge on March 11th was described at Doncaster on Tuesday when William Sayles, 49, Broomhead Road, Wombwell, employed as a bus driver by the Yorkshire Traction Co., was summoned for dangerous driving, or alternatively without due care.
George Edward Shaw, 60, Highfield Road, Conisborough, said that at 6-30 p.m. on March 11th he was driving a saloon car from Barnsley to Conisborough via Mexborough. He had just passed through at Manvers Main bridge at about 11 miles an hour when he saw a bus approaching. It was then 40 yards away and on its proper side. Suddenly the bus veered to its wrong side and though witness applied his brakes immediately, the bus struck the front of the car.
“I thought for a second or two we were in the air and that the bus was going to pull us right over.”
The police were sent for and on the arrival of P.C. Bainbridge. Sayles said he had nothing to complain about, but witness said he had. Visibility at the time was poor as it was raining.
Answering Mr. C. M. Pratt, defending, witness agreed that the bridge made the road very dangerous and that any car coming from beneath the bridge had to be driven cautiously. Witness admitted that after first seeing the bus he took his eyes off it to look towards the kerb on his side of the road. He further agreed that the whole of the damage done to the bus was behind the left-hand side mudguard, while that to the car was to the front.
Mr. Pratt: “In view of that does it not show you ran into this bus rather hard?”
“I would not say so. I had to give weight away.”
Three passengers in the car, Alfred George Griffiths, 3, Washington Avenue, Conisborough, George Wall, 18, Washington Avenue, Conisborough, and Luke Kelly, 29, Highfield Road, Conisborough, gave similar evidence. Each stated that Shaw was travelling slowly while the bus speed was fast.
Shaw, recalled, was asked as to his headlights. He said these, which were switched on at the time, were “fairly good.” His car was a 1926 model.
P.C. Bainbridge said that when he asked Sayles for an explanation of the accident he replied, “I have no complaints.” Shaw said, “I have complaints to make. He cut right across my path and this is how we finished.” The road was 42 feet wide; the accident occurred when Shaw’s car was 10½ feet from its proper side, and the bus had travelled 30 feet after the collision. He again asked Sayles for an explanation, and Sayles said, “I thought he would have come on my other side. I could have got through if Shaw had not been travelling so fast.”
Sayles, in evidence, said he had been driving buses along that road for seven years. On this occasion he was driving towards Bolton-on-Dearne. As he approached the bridge his speed was about ten miles an hour. He was to pull up just the other side of the entrance to the bridge. He first saw Shaw’s car 17 feet away.
“When I saw he was going to continue coming, I swerved to the wrong side and accelerated in an effort to avoid him. I gave him room to get round my other side. If I had gone straight on and tried to pull up, he would have hit me head on.”
Fred Thompson, motor mechanic, of 37, Wortley Avenue, Swinton, who was sitting in the front of the bus, described Sayles as “a most careful and considerate driver.”
The bus approached the bridge at about 12 miles an hour and gradually slowing down. When they were about 24 feet from the bridge Shaw’s car shot out into the road and came straight at the bus. Sayles accelerated and swerved to the other side of the road to try and avoid Shaw. If the bus had kept on its proper side there would have still been an accident.
“I should have done the same as Sayles if I had been in his position.”
Sayles was fined £3 for driving without due care and the other summons was dismissed.