Wallingford man hit by double decker bus wing mirror

Simon Sharp, who lives in St Mary's Street, was struck by a wing mirror of an X40 bus in St Martin's Street.

Mr Sharp was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital after being hurt earlier this month, and received six stitches to close the wound.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire’s Best Tradesperson of 2022 revealed

St Martins Street, Wallingford (Image: Google)

He now wants to raise awareness of the narrowness of the road as well as urge the Oxford Bus Company to consider a different route.

"I've recovered remarkably well," he said. "I just don't want it to happen to someone else as it could be worse next time.

Describing the incident, which took place at 10.30pm on October 8, he said: "There's a little takeaway chicken shop next to the church and I had just been in there to get a snack.

"I came out and turned right to walk down St Martins Street, but had only gone five yards before I was struck on the head.

"I didn't even notice the bus but it hit me immediately. With head injuries there can a lot of blood. It was gushing, it was horrific.

St Martins Street, Wallingford (Image: Google)

"The bus stopped and there were lots of people around me. They bundled me back into the chicken shop. An off-duty nurse went to get some bandages and a first aid kit to stop me bleeding – which was great.

"An ambulance arrived after 20 minutes or so, but I was a bit 'out of it' at that point."
Mr Sharp was taken to A&E but the bus driver had already driven off and had failed to leave his contact details.

READ MORE: Father takes on FOUR running events after son diagnosed with rare condition

"I'm not interested in any litigation," he said. "I'm just worried it could easily happen to someone else.

"I've had to duck and swerve before, but I'm 6ft 4ins so that might have something to do with it."

Mr Sharp now wants the bus company to consider changing routes or using cameras for wing mirrors.

"It's just a real worry," he added. "If the wing mirror had hit me lower on the head it could have been traumatic."

An Oxford Bus Company bus (Image: Photo: Oxford Mail)

An Oxford Bus Company spokesman said: "We are sorry for the incident and any distress caused. We telephoned Mr Sharp on Monday, discussed the incident with him and confirmed a report had been submitted to our claim handlers.

"We understand his concerns regarding the narrowness of St Martin's Street. However, this was an isolated incident and our drivers are very careful in the area which is used by various large vehicles.

READ MORE: STUNNING photographs of Abingdon Michaelmas Fair

"Following the rare incident, we are taking steps to remind drivers about the risks of driving in narrow areas.

"We can also confirm we are researching introducing camera mirror systems on vehicles within our group of bus companies.

"The driver did report the incident, but it was slightly outside the required reporting timeframe which will be explored as part of our internal inquiry."

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.