Well... That was nice... NOT.

There I am yesterday, driving the first trip of the day, stopped at a bus stop, traffic passing the other way, on a fairly narrow road, when this completely gormless zero-wit in a gold-coloured "T" registration Nissan Micra sized car tries to pass between my bus, and an oncoming bus, where in reality, only a pedal cyclist could be expected to fit through the gap in the centreline of the road.

Naturally, the prat scrapes his car along the front right of my bus, scraping his front left corner, and flattening his nearside mirror.

So, I get out to examine the damage to my bus, and see that it's just the paintwork that needs attention on the bus, where his bumper has rubbed against the offside front corner of my bus. Practically trivial damage, but a "damage-only" reportable collision none the less under company policy. Oh joy. More bloody paperwork.

The car fared less well, with the mirror severely dented and cracked where he'd dragged his car down the side of the bus. As I watched, amazed, he stopped his car - in the middle of the road - got out, reset the mirror, and went to drive off again. So I yell "Hang on! I need you details!". He responded with a couple of rather rude hand signals, and a "F*** OFF ****!" before speeding off.

Never mind that this git nearly became crunchy salsa between two buses, and that it was his own fault. Never mind that he's had a "damage only" accident. He'd now committed a more serious offence - he's left the scene of an accident without giving his details, which is required by law (Road Traffic Act 1972 - look it up).

So, I call Centrecomm, and once connected, tell them what's happened. They tell me that the Police won't attend if the other party has already left, details left or not. So, I then call the radio desk controller, and repeat all of the above to him. All he tells me is to file a report.

Which I did on getting back to the depot last night. I also reported the incident to the Police at the station local to the depot, as, since the other driver vanished without leaving details, it was now a crime that had to be reported, minor/trivial damage to the bus not withstanding.

So, here's the question: just when did we become so bleedin' complacent? Little crimes beget bigger crimes and so on infinitum, to misquote the old saying, and before long, you have a crime wave of epic proportions.

Hang on. Too late. We're already there, aren't we.

So much for manners. So much for common decency.

And so much, come to that, for the Rule Of Law, as evidenced by this muppit...

I saw this clown on the way home last night. I saw him roaring up on the outside from my rear view mirror, so expected some form of shenanigans. I didn't expect to catch THIS on camera though - his number plate's visible in the blown-up version. Click on it to see. If you are the driver, or owner, maybe you'd like to tell us just what the bloody hell you were thinking when you jumped a RED traffic light, you impatient candidate for a coroner's slab?