Sorry if it’s been posted but i couldn’t see it but another driver sadly gone and by the sound of it he may have saved others too, RIP drive…c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z86 … 1600249365
Could have been brake fade,could have been a fault.We will never know.All very sad.
albion1971:
Could have been brake fade,could have been a fault.We will never know.All very sad.
We know now and what a brave driver…bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-42083779
The inquest jury heard the French report concluded the brake failed as the pad had been “completely destroyed by excessive heating” due to the “poor condition of the hydraulic retarder”.
It shouldn’t be news, that cooking your brakes on mountainous roads with no/faulty retarder will get you in trouble fast.
Poor maintenance.
Hats off to that man. How bloody brave was he. R.I.P. drive you paid the ultimate price for such a courageous act saving the rest of passengers.
"The inquest jury heard the French report concluded the brake failed as the pad had been “completely destroyed by excessive heating” due to the “poor condition of the hydraulic retarder”.
terribly sad, RIP Driver
Awful incident.
What I am surprised at is it’s now four and a half years since the crash. Yes, investigations should be thorough, but seems a long time to me. I’m not hinting at any conspiracy or anything untoward at all, just surprise at the time taken.
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Fire always makes accident investigations difficult. In this case it was heat at the root cause anyway, the severity of that fire would have had the investigators having numerous tests on brake components namely the linings under various conditions ie speed/load and approx how many brake applications there would have been on that particular stretch of pass via tacho analysis before the brakes finally gave way. Its a long drawn out process.
R.I.P…
After this and the Bath crash you can expect DVSA and the TCs to come down very hard on any operator not doing proper roller-brake tests.
And some people will still be surprised…
GasGas:
After this and the Bath crash you can expect DVSA and the TCs to come down very hard on any operator not doing proper roller-brake tests.And some people will still be surprised…
Would a roller brake test highlighted problems with the retarder?
No, but the foundation brakes should have been able to cope better than they did, so it might have been able to at least mitigate the accident.
An operator in Somerset recently lost its licence because one of its coaches had an oil leak, which was getting onto the Telma electric retarder and causing a potential fire hazard. The genius running the workshop’s solution was to pull the wires out of the retarder so it wouldn’t get hot.
The DVSA weren’t very impressed, and nor was the TC, bye-bye O licence.
Fair point, nice to see the TC going after those who scrimp on maintenance.
GasGas:
No, but the foundation brakes should have been able to cope better than they did, so it might have been able to at least mitigate the accident.An operator in Somerset recently lost its licence because one of its coaches had an oil leak, which was getting onto the Telma electric retarder and causing a potential fire hazard. The genius running the workshop’s solution was to pull the wires out of the retarder so it wouldn’t get hot.
The DVSA weren’t very impressed, and nor was the TC, bye-bye O licence.
When I was a coach driver you’d be amazed (or maybe not) at how many coaches simply had their retarders disconnected when they went wrong, never to be fixed.
GasGas:
No, but the foundation brakes should have been able to cope better than they did, so it might have been able to at least mitigate the accident.An operator in Somerset recently lost its licence because one of its coaches had an oil leak, which was getting onto the Telma electric retarder and causing a potential fire hazard. The genius running the workshop’s solution was to pull the wires out of the retarder so it wouldn’t get hot.
The DVSA weren’t very impressed, and nor was the TC, bye-bye O licence.
I’m not saying anything about this particular incident or about this driver. I’m not saying anything about maintenance.
A perfectly good vehicle with good brakes can have them cooked by misuse in no time at all. A good set of friction linings once overheated will not stop anything. The “foundation brakes” however good they started, won’t be able to cope with overuse.
I don’t think you can really say “they should have been able to cope better” if you don’t know how they were being used. You could say that a perfect fade-free system would be a good thing, but they don’t exist in the real world.
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