I’ve seen some unusual road accident stories in my time, and we at The Injury Lawyers are used to dealing with the quirkier accidents given our wealth of experience and huge amount of claims we take on and settle on a daily basis. But this terrifying story from the Daily Mail really is an unusual one…

According to the source, a double-decker bus was flipped over on a motorway after a crazed passenger grabbed the steering wheel and forced the bus off the road. Remarkably, no one was killed in the incident; however two of the twelve passengers were reportedly injured with one man being taken to hospital with suspected spinal injuries. The terrified passengers escaped the vehicle through a hatch in the roof.
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Everyone should feel that they and their loved ones are safe when at work, however the latest news that a contractor has died at the Corus Steel Works Plant in Scunthorpe puts doubt in our mind.

Barry Shaw, aged 53 was crushed between a lorry tractor and a trailer when working at the Steel Plant on 28 August.

This is the second death to take place within the Company in the past four months. It follows the death of Thomas Standerline, aged 26 who died whilst working at the Steel Works in Burton-Upon-Stather.
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A coach driver is hailed as a hero as he battled with a passenger who allegedly tried to grab the steering wheel of his double-decker coach. The Oxford tube service, which was carrying 12 passengers at the time flipped and spun off the motorway. The 21-year-old, whom witnesses said appeared drunk at the time, fled the scene but was later tracked down by police.

Emergency Services were called but by the time they appeared at the scene, all 12 passengers and the driver had managed to free themselves from the wreckage.

When speaking to the Telegraph an Oxford Tube spokesman said: “We can confirm that the police are investigating an incident which took place on board our Oxford to London service. “Ambulances attended the scene but thankfully none of the passengers or the driver was seriously injured. We would like to commend the driver for his brave actions in minimising what could have been a far more serious accident.”

On 19th August 2010, the BBC News web site (Source) featured a story about how a 34 year old man saved his young daughter, 3, from serious injuries when she was attacked by an Asian Black Bear whilst visiting a Zoo in western Germany.

The incident occurred on 18/08/10 when the Dutch man, his wife and two children were visiting the Eifel zoo in Luenebach, western Germany. It is understood that the 3 year old girl climbed the 1 meter high fence whilst her parents were not watching and fell into the bear enclosure. The girl was then mauled and hit round the head by the bear before her father jumped over the fence to save his daughter. The 34 year old man who has not yet been named managed to save himself and his daughter but not before he was also attacked by the bear and receiving injuries to his leg.

The police and ambulance were called quickly to the scene by onlookers and both victims were taken to a hospital in nearby Trier by helicopter where they both remain. A police spokeswoman said that they were both ‘extremely lucky’ to survive an attack by the bear as this particular breed of bear are well known for their strength and regularly attack and kill livestock and humans in their natural habitat.
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Sadly, many road accidents involving motorbikes end in tragedy. Without the added safety a car offers, bikers are of course easily exposed to serious trauma injuries if they are involved in an accident; and many often lead to fatalities. So it’s nice to hear of an extraordinary survival story of a biker who fought against all odds to survive his ordeal.

According to the report from Sky News, 44 year old former warehouse Manager Steve Nixon technically “died” 28 times after he suffered a massive heart attack in Leicestershire last year in a serious road accident. On scene paramedics revived him 5 times before he was airlifted to Coventry’s University Hospital, where remarkably he was saved from his heart stopping a further 23 times. Each time the great team at the hospital managed to get his heart going again.
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For those of you that aren’t aware of this, dog faeces can have serious consequences if it comes in to contact with a person’s eye. I remember when I was a young lad, my mother always used to warn me to stay away from dog mess if I ever spotted it; warning me that I could go blind if I get it in my eyes. And let’s face it – it’s easy enough when you’re a kid to end up on the ground.

Because of the dangers, most public areas have signs up advising of fixed penalties in place for anyone who doesn’t clear up their dogs mess. Yet sadly, there are some dog owners that just don’t take heed of the warnings, and do not care for the potentially serious consequences. And this next tragic story from the Daily Mail is an example of consequences that can occur.

According to the source/, youngster Aimee Langdon could end up blind after contracting a rare infection from dog faeces in a playground. The report advises that surgeons will be forced to remove Aimee’s eye if the antibiotics do not stop the spread of the infection before it reaches her brain.
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Reports emerged in the UK and world media on Monday 16th of August of a horrific road accident in Nigeria, in which at least 40 people are believed to have been killed.

The tragic accident happened on the evening of Sunday 15th August on a busy motorway ‘expressway’ between the cities of Lagos and Ibadan. It is understood that a lorry, which was loaded with sugar, crashed into dozens of vehicles waiting at a police checkpoint, and exploded into flames after its brakes failed to operate when driving down a slope.

The official number of people dead or injured as a result of the accident is yet to be confirmed, however the estimate has risen from 20 to at least 40 in the last few days, and it is understood that at least 20 vehicles were involved including 2 minibuses which were able to carry 18 people each. The sugar company who owned the vehicle causing the accident has also confirmed that the two employees in the vehicle have died. It has been reported that many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition and identifying the bodies is likely to be a lengthy process which will only prolong the agony of the victims’ families.
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Twenty one passengers have been seriously injured and two are in a critical condition after the train on which they were travelling collided with a sewage tanker at a railway crossing.

The accident happened at approximately 5.30pm on Tuesday, 17th August 2010, near the small village of Little Cornard, Sudbury in Suffolk when the two-carriage train hit a large sewage tanker lorry which was stationary on a ‘user-worked’ railway crossing.  A total of 21 people suffered injuries in the accident and two of these have been taken to Colchester General Hospital with serious injuries, one of which, a 58 year old man is in intensive care and it is not yet clear whether he will survive his injuries. The other 19 injured passengers suffered less serious injuries in the form of cuts, bruises, back and neck pain and broken ribs.

It is understood that the sewage tanker split open upon impact causing sewage to spill over a wide area and the train was then de-railed however, it did not tip over. Witnesses described how they heard a loud bang when the collision occurred and then saw a number of distressed passengers wandering around the area in a daze covered in blood. One witness, a 65 year old man said “There was a very, very loud bang. I’ve never heard anything like it. I thought it was an aeroplane crash or a bomb going off.”
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Motorcycles can be dangerous vehicles; without the added protection a car offers, coming off of a bike can lead to serious injuries. And unfortunately, the police are often powerless to pursue thieves if it is deemed that the rider could come to harm – even when the concern is for a thieving menace to society!

Now, I’m not having a dig at the police here. This story from the Daily Mail can be seen from both sides of the coin. According to the report, police were ordered not to pursue thieves making away with £20,000 worth of motorcycles because a chase would put the lives of the criminals in danger.

Police had to watch them ride in to the distance for fear of their safety, given that the thieves were not wearing helmets or protective gear. The officers involved were reportedly following protocol and procedure in not initiating a pursuit after the robbery at the Manchester Motorbike Store in Altrincham.
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Paria and Galia Najmi, twin sisters aged nine, were on holiday with their parents in Spain when the fatal accident happened. The Volvo that the family were travelling in overturned on the motorway as the family were travelling along the motorway in the South of Spain. According to local Police the twin girls had not been wearing their seatbelts. Sadly Paria died at the scene of the accident and Galia later lost her fight for life in hospital.

The twin’s parents were also injured in the accident which happened yesterday evening near the city, Zaragoza which is approximately 200 miles from Madrid.

The girl’s father, Homayoun Najmi, is in the intensive care unit.  He is believed to be unaware of the death of his two girls.

Farzaneh Heidari, the girl’s mother is in hospital being treated for shock and minor injuries. Relatives were at her bedside comforting her over her tragic loss.
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