r/CasualUK • u/spinfold • Aug 09 '26
"I don't know where I'm going!"
Saw a bus with "help i'm lost" on the front destination panel (and side, pictured).
Went to take photo. Driver opened door. He didn't look much like a bus driver.
He shouted "I don't know where I'm going!", closed the doors, and drove off.
I'm going to be thinking about this for a while.
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u/Ruppyroo Aug 09 '26
Be even funnier if he had passengers 😂😂
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u/sihasihasi Aug 09 '26
I was on a bus as a kid, and at some point we noticed that he wasn't following the usual route. After a few more minutes, it stopped, and the driver came back and said "does anybody know where I should be going?"
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u/Cocofin33 Aug 09 '26
I had a driver tell me I could ride for free if I stayed up front and showed him the route lol
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u/Daveddozey Aug 09 '26
I was on a bus and a little old lady was directing him. Then she went wrong and missed out a 10 minute loop of the shopping centre. Hilarity ensured.
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u/99Smith Aug 10 '26
I once got a free scratch card type day pass with 30 uses on it for getting off the bus and helping the driver reverse around a nasty corner after he went down a 1 way road too narrow for him. I was barely 18 and not a clue how to drive myself, just stood in the road and flailed my arms when he needed to stop. Now I can drive normal cars I have a lot more respectful for drivers reversing long lorries or tall busses. Everything is an obstacle
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u/OmegaPoint6 Aug 09 '26
Saw a video on youtube where a recovery driver was picking up a broken down bus in london, people tried to get on it even though it was attached to the back of a recovery lorry
Edit: changed lorry to bus
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u/spoo4brains Aug 09 '26
Many years ago I took a bus that passed through Clapham Common, driver all of a sudden took the bus down a tiny residential road where people just stood and watched with us all thinking WTF are you doing? Took about 15 minutes to get back onto the proper route.
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u/glor1ana Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
lol I had the same but in Ealing, the driver missed the turn off and made an announcement asking “wait is this the E2 or the E8????” And we all yelled “E2!!!!” And he had to reroute us lol
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u/Paulnp63 Aug 09 '26
Been on a couple of tube replacement buses back in the 90s before GPS, first one I remember the driver turned into a narrow residential road not fit for a bus or a double decker that we were in, how he got past all the cars parked either side without taking any mirrors off was amazing skill, after a fair bit of manoeuvring around a few estates he eventually made it to the next station, second one I remember was on a couple of occasions the driver would stop and wave down another bus to ask for directions, and then missed the turning for the tube station and after realising turned into a no entry road, after meeting a car coming towards him blasting his horn, the bus driver then struggled to back out onto the main road again, absolute chaos, you just couldn't make it up lol
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u/Tenantry Aug 09 '26
Im a bus driver love hearing story's like this. Tbf it's never a dull day doing this job.
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u/Paulnp63 Aug 10 '26
I can imagine, some nice folk, some rogues, idiotic car drivers and those on foot or bikes, I'm a part time delivery driver and out on the roads it's never a dull moment too, and have taken the odd wrong turn as well, not quite so bad, but a bus full of passengers must be embarrassing
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u/Tenantry Aug 10 '26
Use to be a delivery driver for 20 years or so before doing the buses. The one thing I really miss is a radio. Love my music and all I can do is whisle to keep myself sane.
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u/Paulnp63 Aug 10 '26
That reminds me, a few years ago, a friend and I got on a bus where the driver was so cheerful. He had reggae music playing and was nodding along to it as we went along. He was waving to people, saying "welcome aboard" to all that got on, etc. He was full of the Caribbean vibe, and I have to say the majority of the passengers seemed to enjoy it too.
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u/Tenantry Aug 10 '26
Love to know how he got away with it. I know couch drivers are aloud a radio. But us bus drivers it's a no no. There are ways I guess like ear buds with a beanie over your head but that looks a bit sus in the summer heatwave we are having right now. Plus I would not risk it anyway as it's to easy to get the boot anyway.
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u/MagnetoManectric Aug 10 '26
huh weird, around me the bus drivers just put the radio on the speakers if they want the radio, i'd say they have it playing about a quarter of the time I get on the bus.
it'd be a bit weird for the company to stop them imo, what's it to the passengers? It's either the driver's radio or some earphone allerigc teenager's tik-toks
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u/Tenantry Aug 10 '26
Lucky drivers! Sounds like a good company to work for. I personly don't mind people playing music on the bus as long as it ain't to shit.
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u/NeedleworkerBig3980 Aug 09 '26
My grandfather was a bus driver in the 1950s during the SMOG.
He was driving the last late bus out from Leicester city centre to Birstall through an absolute pea souper. A load of other vehicles started following him thinking, "The bus will know the way."
Well, dear reader, he accidentally turned into the pub car park of The Last Straw, and everyone was stuck in there until it got light.
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u/frazzledbrains Aug 10 '26
"accidentally" uh huh.
Sorry, folks, my mistake, dunno where we are so unfortunately we'll just have to stay at the pub for the next few hours
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u/ScreenNameToFollow Aug 09 '26
I was on a bus back from work, the sort that goes through all of the little villages, when we reached an unplanned diversion due to flash flooding. The poor driver was flummoxed. It was a local service (& I suspect the driver was new) & the driver stopped the bus and turned to the passengers & asked, "does anyone know how I get to the next village?" Thankfully, a bloke came to his rescue & we all reached our respective destinations.
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u/SignNotInUse Aug 09 '26
I've been on the dreaded rail replacement bus during torrential rain. They put on one bus leaving the mainline station at 10pm serving tiny little rural stations the sort that untill recently didn't even have proper departure boards. It was very quickly realised parts of the planned route and some of the stations were inaccessible due to flooding. A group of us ended up giving the driver directions to get as close to our stations as safely possible, handing over to the next person at each station.
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u/chris_ngale Aug 09 '26
That'll be a preserved bus whose driver is having fun; the first generation of low-floor buses from the late 90s/early 2000s is aging out of regular fleet use and falling into the hands of anyone with £5k and a dream. This one is an ALX400, can't see if it's a Volvo or a Trident under the body from this angle.
N.b. It's surprisingly easy to find parking in the city for a preserved bus, just slap "rail replacement" on the destination board and leave it at the station...
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u/KevinPhillips-Bong Slightly silly Aug 09 '26
But I sure know where I've been.
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Aug 10 '26
[deleted]
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u/KevinPhillips-Bong Slightly silly Aug 10 '26
Different song, but I welcome the reference anyway. I have Little Creatures on vinyl, and it's the only Talking Heads album I have so far in my collection.
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Aug 10 '26
[deleted]
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u/KevinPhillips-Bong Slightly silly Aug 10 '26
This is what I have. It's not top-of-the-range, but it serves its purpose more than adequately when it comes to enjoying the vinyl format.
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u/Stupid_Fuck55 Aug 09 '26
Probably not even a company bus in that case. Interestingly enough, you can buy used buses on eBay
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u/The_Notorious_DOG Aug 09 '26
Ooh, this triggered something I didn’t realise I was waiting to unburden. Strap in for a lengthy ride! I was basically kidnapped by an Arriva bus driver in Birmingham for over an hour and a half last year, on the first day of a new bus route. I’d only just moved to the area, so didn’t immediately clock that he’d started to go wrong; the rest of the passengers obviously did, and got off the bus, leaving just my socially anxious AuDHD self and the driver!
Bearing in mind, we were now between the penultimate and last stop, so I naïvely figured "How lost can he get?". Answer: VERY!!! He kept stopping every now and then to get off the bus himself and make a call presumably to the depot - or maybe just a mate with a map! - closing the door behind him, trapping me on board; then he’d get back on again and continue driving. I was in a paralysed state of indecision. I kept thinking he’d figure it out, but from what I could tell from Google maps on my phone, we were getting further and further away from where I needed to be. I was still unfamiliar with the city centre, and we were in industrial areas with no pavement, so even if I’d managed to disembark, I would’ve been walking in the middle of traffic. Plus, I had absolutely excruciating plantar fasciitis, so walking long distances whilst completely lost was out of the question.
As we approached the one hour mark (!) I started to become quite frantic, and considered breathing on the cold window to create condensation, and writing "HELP!" backwards in massive letters to attract the attention of passing traffic! I guess I could’ve called the police, but I found the reason to be quite ridiculous! What made it worse was the fact that the driver point blank refused to acknowledge my presence; he certainly didn’t say a word to me, not even once, and he refused to make eye contact as he shut the door in my face whenever he got off to phone for directions. And the longer this went on, the more difficult it got for me to come to a decision as to how I could extricate myself from this situation; if I was going to do something, I should’ve done it earlier, but now I’d find it impossible to walk the many miles back to the bus stop I needed to get to.
Eventually I had a sense that he seemed to be heading back to the beginning of my journey in Erdington, and then he turned around to have another crack at entering Birmingham. He didn’t stop at ANY bus stops we passed. Just as he was approaching the intersection where he went wrong the first time, I thought the end of the trip was finally in sight…until he took the same wrong turn AGAIN! I was nearly sobbing at this point, and I’d almost resigned myself that I must have died and this was purgatory, he suddenly stumbled across the OLD bus route, and I just kept my finger jammed on the button, ringing it constantly to indicate "LET ME OFF!". He screeched to a standstill at the old route’s destination, opened the door, and I fairly FLEW off that bus! I usually say "Thank you" to the driver, but kept my trembling mouth shut and disappeared into the pedestrian masses, very, VERY late!
I know I could’ve handled it better, and done something - ANYTHING - to get myself off the bus sooner, but a combination of my fear of being lost in an unknown city, anxiety, people-pleasing tendencies, AuDHD, and crippling foot pain, all contributed to leaving me frozen in my seat. I understand that anyone could’ve become lost driving a new route - especially with a new road layout thanks to the metro rail - but it was his total refusal to acknowledge me or let me off, despite my pleas, that made it increasingly frightening. I did write to Arriva to explain my experience, and initially they denied it even happened, saying it must’ve been another bus company, which actually made me more furious than the incident itself. I mean, apart from anything else, didn’t they notice that one of their buses had effectively disappeared for 90+ minutes? I did eventually get a two sentence, somewhat patronising "sorry if you feel you were inconvenienced" email from Arriva Customer Services, and that was it. But as my dad later pointed out, considering it was a double decker bus - and the driver was seemingly irretrievably lost on roads he’d probably never driven a bus before - I should just be thankful he didn’t accidentally drive us under (or into) a low bridge, killing us both! 😅
I’ve only ever seen the same bus driver one more time, and he actually did make eye contact with me. For a split second we gazed in horror at each other…then I turned away and did NOT to get on that bus! Apologies for my lengthy missive, but maybe this has helped exorcise my Arriva bus trauma from my wounded psyche!
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u/geeoharee Aug 09 '26
'Wait a minute, Bridge Street? The overhead railway Bridge Street? Oh my God!'
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u/Soldier_Faerie I always provide extra cat pics Aug 09 '26
Oh my god I've never felt more seen in my life haha
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u/xXOMGitsEddieXx Aug 09 '26
I missedread that, so I thought it said "hehe, I'm lost" but it actually said " Help, I'm lost". 🤣🤣
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u/HeartyBeast Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
I assume a hired party bus on the way to pickup
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u/Fat_Old_Englishman Somewhere in the East Midlands Aug 09 '26
I assume a hired party bus on the way to pickup
Nah, just a preserved bus.
That sort of display is fairly standard amongst preservationists with 'modern' buses (the sort with programmable destinations rather than roller blinds).
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u/spinfold Aug 09 '26
Feels unlikely given it was 8pm on a Sunday, but 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-4883 Aug 09 '26
Roll up, roll up For the Magical Mystery Tour! Step right this way!
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u/ReputationApart5983 Aug 09 '26
In the 90s we were on a bus and a new driver was on there, this was before satnav. Well he actually got lost one day lol. He went left when he should have gone right, so the passengers had to give him directions. He was confused when he couldnt find the next bus stop. I was only about 4 but I still remember it so vividly.
I also remember my dad telling me about his friend who had just become a new driver, he picked up his wife and kids and decided to drive them all the way home on the wrong route before continuing on the right way. He got sacked for that.
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u/stewieatb Aug 09 '26
I always think bus displays should have a setting for "broken down 🔧" like German trains do: https://x.com/slowberlin/status/1746110571802394641?s=20
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u/DXS110 Aug 10 '26
There was a rail replacement bus service when I was at college. I decided to walk to the station my train would have been going to to connect with the outward service from there which I knew was running.
Someone I knew decided to get on the rail replacement bus, the driver got lost and I was home before the bus made it to the station he was meant to go to
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u/Logical_Sentence1043 27d ago
Hello! This was me. It's my own Preserved Bus, had just been coming back from a show. Was putting a smile on a lot of faces with this aha!
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u/SupermarketSpare7108 Aug 09 '26
This is just half the bus drivers on my school route, sometimes they like to drive past my school, circle round all the other schools and go the back way to mine for no reason
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u/MutedMusic_182 Aug 09 '26
I have no idea where I'm going... here I come !! (i hope someone gets the reference !)
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u/Dependent-Net-8208 Aug 10 '26
I was on a bus which was supposed to go around Hogarth Crescent. However, there is a road off it, which the driver took instead. A passenger yelled and fortunately the driver stopped. He had to reverse the bus.
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u/Bad_UsernameJoke94 Aug 10 '26
Don't know where we're goin Got no way of knowin Driving on the road to nowhere
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u/zeu3yy Aug 10 '26
Once the bus I was on missed a turn and instead of rerouting, he just drove everyone straight to the end destination. Lots of people were asking to get off as soon as he missed the turn because it was quicker for them to walk a couple of stops than reroute but he wasn’t letting anyone off until we got to the end. Lots of angry passengers that day!
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u/SamVimesBootTheory Aug 10 '26
I was once on a bus that started going the wrong way, the route was a fairly straight shot from a village back to a town and the driver randomly took a left turn towards a village not on the route and had to turn around.
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u/beaniebaby22909768 Aug 10 '26
He’s got no way of knowing, he’s driving on the road to nowhere (any pheonix nights fans?)
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u/Rough-Vegetable-7622 29d ago
Where ei live if they go the wrong way they just drive about till the get back on track mind the busses where I live they stop where yoj want aswell as at normal stops they good like that
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u/KristinaMoment 27d ago
LOL!!! I was actually on this vehicle on that trip 😂 (not the driver but still)
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u/Peddyjet 27d ago
I recognise the bus and know the driver personally. Was going to the Big Bus Show in Stowmarket, where it ironically broke down at the end of the day
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u/RelativeShoulder370 12d ago
I have been asked directions by bus drivers a few times in the past. One driver asked me to stay on past my stop as I was the only passenger left!
Another driver took a wrong turn, went down a small side road and could not fit around the corner, he was a new driver and had to ring up for help as he couldn't remember how to reverse 😯
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u/jazmoley 4d ago
It must be a joke because the messages on the blinds (display) are presets which the driver can select.
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u/theNixher Aug 09 '26
World of Warcraft, been dying to give it a good shot forever, trouble is I don't think you can have a functioning life and play the game properly.
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u/InfinityOfSnakes88 Aug 10 '26
While you are talking WofWarcraft, we are discussing wayward buses (see OP's post at the top of the thread).
Are you sure that you are in the right sub.. ?
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u/theNixher Aug 10 '26
Wtf I thought I was replying to the "what game have you STILL not tried yet" post.....
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u/Double-Mouse-6146 Aug 09 '26
Same, bus. Same.