Wallingford man hit by double decker bus wing mirror

Simon Sharp, who lives in St Marys Street, was hit on the head by the wing mirror of the X40 bus in St Martins Street.

The incident happened earlier this month at about 10.30pm on a Saturday evening (October 8). Mr Sharp was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital where he had six stitches to close the wound.

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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.

“There’s a little takeaway chicken shop next to the church and I had just been in there to get a snack and as it came out and turned right to walk down St Martins Street, I 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.

“The bus stopped and there was lots of people around me, they bundled me back into the chicken shop and an off-duty nurse went and get some bandages and a first aid kit to stop me bleeding which was great.

St Martins Street, Wallingford (Image: Google)

“An ambulance arrived after 20 minutes or so but I was a bit out of it at the point.”

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Mr Sharp was taken to A&E but the bus driver had already driven off and had failed to leave his contact details.

“I’m not interested in any litigation,” he said. “I’m just worried it could easily happen to anyone else.

“I’ve had to duck and swerve before but I’m 6ft 4inches 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 instead.

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

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 Martins Street. However, this was an isolated incident and our drivers are very careful in the area which is used by various large vehicles.

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

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 “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.”

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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

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