✪ Readers' Tales
One morning I was going to work on the New Hudson and was running a little bit late. I got onto the A6 going into town but unfortunately I was stuck behind a 92 bus that came from Hazel Grove going along the A6 into Manchester. Unfortunately, due to the low speed of the New Hudson, I was unable to overtake the bus and my start time at work was getting closer and closer. As I approached the Blossoms Hotel traffic lights I had a choice - carry on behind the bus or turn right down Hillgate. Both routes were about the same length, but Hillgate did not have any buses. The traffic lights were on red and I probably made the best decision of my life, I decided to go down Hillgate, I moved over to the right and stopped at the traffic lights next to the bus. I then heard a very loud noise of brakes being applied, I looked round to see a fully laden lorry carrying stone hit the back of the bus, only lightly but just where I would have been. Luckily, and due to the light impact, there were no injuries but even so, given where I would have been the New Hudson would have been written off and probably me as well. Thankfully the speed of the New Hudson, or more to the point, lack of it saved my life. Obviously this incident made me late for work, but at least it gave me an excuse. Although the New Hudson has long gone I saved the instruction manual as a little reminder, if one needed reminding of the incident.
The irony of this is that, a year later, the Cheshire Constabulary were having a recruitment campaign and I featured on a poster on my police bike. And the first time I saw the poster, you guessed it, it was on the back of a 92 bus!