back to article Hoodies swipe bus for YouTube joyride

Three Wiltshire hoodies have been arrested and bailed after taking a double-decker bus for an early morning jaunt, part of which popped up on YouTube. Two 16-year-old girls and a 21-year-old man swiped the vehicle from a depot in Amesbury in the early hours of 18 June and headed off down the A345 towards Salisbury. In the …

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  1. Number6

    Assisting the Police

    If the police don't have a YouTube officer then it's probably worth appointing one, given the number of clueless idiots who manage to post inciminating evidence of their wrongdoing.

    No doubt the defence will be the advertising slogan "When you're too drunk to drive, take a bus"...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    no title no need

    "To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training. You have individuals who are completely untrained and they are driving round this huge bit of equipment on the roads."

    I believe those people are usually called bus drivers

    1. Matt 13
      Happy

      almost....

      '"To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training.'

      I shudder to think just how much training is required to drive a bus properly!!!!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      bus drivers

      deserve respect - you should try dealing with the vehicle, discourteous rush hour drivers, puking and mewling passengers, handle money and keep to a timetable sometime

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    i now have

    a rage of 10,000 dailyfail readers inside me...

    ok, in all seriousness - all of them need some jail time, they knew what they were doing.

  4. Elmer Phud

    Trained?

    "To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training."

    Hmm, must have different buses than in London.

    They seem to recruit most drivers straight from being mini-cab pilots.

    Unable to work out how wide the bus is, unable to stop smoothly and full welly with the auto gearbox.

    Oh, I forgot - 'considerable' is now about three days.

  5. Dan 55 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Garbage in, garbage out

    It's the education system, innit.

  6. frank ly
    Stop

    Not Strictly True

    "...To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training..."

    Apparently not. All it needs is misplaced bravado and mind boggling stupidity.

    (Can someone who knows about these things tell us if these vehicles have ignition keys or similar security measures?)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ignition Keys

      Yes they do. If they vehicle is in a supposedly secure depot, however, it is not unusual to leave the keys on the vehicle--in my experience, you keep them in a place which is known by all drivers but not in the contact. This is because a) the risk of theft for these vehicles is low (freak occurrences notwithstanding) and b) by the time drivers get to work there might not be anyone at the office to hand out the keys.

      More remarkable is that they would manage to a) get in. You either need the keys or need to know the location of the pneumatic release (a switch on the outside which allows one to open the door); b) start the engine, as the ignition sequence may or may not be like that of a normal car. Nearly always (again, IME) you have a master switch which kills all the electrics, plus depending on the bus it might refuse to start unless the gearbox and parking brake are in a specific position; c) actually drive off with the thing. I had enough trouble doing that sometimes when getting onto an unfamiliar bus, and I'm qualified. Things like position and operation of the parking brake and gears tend to vary quite a lot between different models.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Go

        Driving etc

        Im preety sure (but dont quote me on this) that the engine cannot be started unless the card is put into the ticket machiene. Judging by that it was showing as being alive in the video it would seem the driver left it in. Hence hitting the big red "start" button and driving off was all that is required.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        IT Angle

        Back when I were a lad...

        ...they had isolator switches either under the lower deck's back seat - where any passing yob in need of a larf could, and did, lift said seat, press the switch and turn everything off - or under the engine panel at the rear of the bus. These have to be easily accessible in case of fire, flood, famine, etc.

        When I drove buses a few decades ago, when the modern front-loading design was being introduced, all one did to start the engine was press the big green button. Stopping the engine from the cab was slightly different, in that one pressed the big red button instead.

        The back-loading, open platform design was far superior in that one didn't have to speak to the travelling public at all and we left that to the conductor, who also got to count the cash and lose it at cards to the driver over lunch.

  7. theloneranger
    Linux

    Ah hoodies.... makes you feel proud eh?

    Not only are they that stupid that they stole a bus.....

    Not only are they that stupid that they thought noone would notice.....

    But then they video their faces and post onto youtube?

    What did they think would happen:

    a) Spielburg would contact them and hire them due to their outstanding cinematography?

    b) the cops would track them down and introduce them to "Monsieur Baton"?

    I am not as much concerned about the fact that they stole the bus as the fact that it is these kids, who thanks to the dumbing down of GCSE's etc, are probably going to get straight A's and will no doubt become a doctor or lawyer that I might need to rely on in ten years time.

    Shame the expression "Throw oneself under a bus" wasn't more apt in this situtation.

    Penguin icon as a little known fact that penguins are the best bus drivers in the world.

  8. red hal
    Big Brother

    Fantastic!

    This is why we don't need security cameras on every street corner. The criminals - for this is what they are - take pictures themselves. Who needs 'bait' vehicles when we have cameraphones?

    Big brother; because he probably was.

  9. Neil Greatorex

    To avoid confusing the bus-going public

    I hope they took the right one; Amesbury - Salisbury is bus Number 1..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      They could have

      taken the 23 and walked from the roundabout if they couldn't find a number 1 to steal?

  10. Robert Ramsay

    Aaaaaand....

    Devil makes work for idle hands - film at 11.

  11. Patrick R
    Stop

    Sure they still think they're cool.

    Face it, you're not able to drive a bus, ...don't. You're not able to use Youtube in a sensible way, ...don't. You're not only under aged, you're under-IQ-ed.

    To bad our society will get all that paid by insurances and nobody will face the consequences of such stupidity.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Thank goodness for YouTube...

    ... for providing idiots like these with a simple way to turn themselves in.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Ahhh all makes sense....

    ""It was utter stupidity, extremely reckless ........"

    "To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training. "

    Am I the only one that read that as being it takes training to drive like a reckless idiot.

    Now the Birmingham bus driving all makes sense, it's taken years of training and practise to make them completely unaware and ignorant of all other road users.

    1. david bates

      unfair...

      the only Birmingham bus driver I ever have contact with was very understanding after I edited 3 square feet of fibreglass out of the side of his bux with the corner of my Metro many moons ago...

    2. Laurent_Z
      WTF?

      Paris, France

      In Paris we had a transportation company for the last

      100+ year, so they gor time to organise

      According to the driving rulesn a bus has the priority, so if he pulls out of the stop you HAVE to stop to let him go.

      Alos there is a regulated sanction list for the driver. For instance a grievous accident where they actually destroyed the other vehicle is charged to the the driver.... about 2€ per month for one year.

      killint a pedestrian is 3€. getting late at the station is up to 5€ fine....

      So... When I'm moving in Paris... I take the bus 8)

  14. Lottie

    Probably

    still more polite and sociable than regular bus drivers!

  15. Paul was already taken
    Headmaster

    Nice hoodies

    Your average Wiltshire Hoodie seems to be much better spoken than the Glasgow ones.

  16. Lionel Baden
    FAIL

    stupid is as ...

    i have never understood why people will film themselves doing something illigal and then post the bloody video online .....

    Is it just me or is that Stupid !!

  17. Eden
    Joke

    Whats so stupid

    He probably got laid by the both of them, they get some "street cred", a few weeks of fame on youtube, and what...they'll be told to do community service and pay back the damage at £1 a month out of their dole money most likely, seems like a good deal to me *sigh*

    1. Marky W
      Unhappy

      Downvoted

      Not because you're probably wrong, but because you're probably right. I'm now depressed.

      Mine's the one with the Prozac and the length of garden hose, thanks.

  18. Ronn1e
    FAIL

    So thats where my bus was this morning!

    Idiots.

  19. Cosmo
    FAIL

    It's not often I say this but...

    ...what a bunch of tossers. Nicking a bus, driving on the wrong side of the road, crashing into a car, but most importantly...

    FILMING THE THING AND PUTTING IT ON YOUTUBE?!?!?! Showing their faces, using their real names??? I hope they have to work or do community service for years to pay for the damage

  20. Davey Bee

    I might seem a bit harsh...

    ...but all three of them should be put away for a year at least. You simply cannot allow kids to think that the sentence for this is anything less than jail.

  21. Steve 48
    Joke

    Doh...

    Am I the first to say they were Bus-ted?

    There really ought to be something like the Darwin awards for dumb tw*ts that are stupid enough to a) pinch a bus and b) post the footage on the net.

    1. Roger Greenwood
      Happy

      Perhaps . . .

      we could have a Darwin Injunction, which is then revoked when they get out of prison and can start mating again with other pond life. Usually far too soon.

    2. PsychicMonkey
      FAIL

      There was a bus related darwin

      a guy caused some hassle on the bus. Ran off, then ran back in front of the bus and threw a slab of concrete through the front window....of the moving bus......

  22. Valerion

    To be fair

    She is a better driver than most of the bus drivers I've had the pleasure of being a passenger with.

  23. Campbeltonian

    Training

    It obviously takes less training to drive a bus like that than it does to operate a video camera correctly. At least they managed to keep the bus upright.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Who wants a bet they wont have to pay that £30k back?

    Title says it all really. Fat chance any of the victims of there "little escapade" will see one cent towards repairing the damage.

    Lock them up and then steralise them. There are already too many idiots in this country, we dont need these brainacs creating even more...

    </End Rant>

  25. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Neanderthals

    Neanderthals were probably smarter than these genetic throwbacks...

  26. Tom_

    you fell for it

    This is just a viral for Speed 3.

  27. Harry
    Alert

    Frank has the most sensible comment here ,,,

    " tell us if these vehicles have ignition keys or similar security measures?"

    I can't answer the specific question, but I would strongly suggest that the fact they were able to just "walk off" with a bus implies gross negligence on the part of either the bus company or one of its employees.

    Assuming there is not an unpublished prequel to the movie as described, where the participants turned up with machine guns and overpowered the site security, the bus company needs to be severely prosecuted for aiding and abetting the incident, and thereby made fully responsible for consequential losses to all the third party damage.

  28. Jason Yau
    Coat

    The word

    plonker isn't used enough nowadays so here it goes

    What a bunch of plonkers

    Mine is the sheepskin coat.

  29. JasonH

    3.15am

    As a parent, what scares me the most is how on earth are two 16 year-olds out at three in the morning? I cannot comprehend this. It's not as if they sneaked out moments before - she's spent considerable time applying that make-up...

    Garish make-up and a hoodie - mmm, nice look. Remind me not to go there.

  30. LuMan
    Coat

    Not sure about that..

    "To drive a bus like that takes a considerable amount of training. You have individuals who are completely untrained and they are driving round this huge bit of equipment on the roads."

    Not true. I saw Melvyn Hayes drive a bloody Routemaster, complete with God-bothering warbler Cliff and a bunch of preppy hippies. He seemed to do a good job. Until he drove it into a barn.

    Mind you, Rik on The Young Ones drove off a cliff.... Spooky...

    Mine's the one with the bus ticket in the pocket.

    1. Hans Upp
      Unhappy

      Absolutely scary . . .

      . . . that LuMan remembers such fine details of Melvyn Hayes and Cliff Anyone-For-Tennis, in the worst film of the 60's (translation for da yoofs - Movies used to be called Films in those days)

  31. Maliciously Crafted Packet
    Stop

    You were 16 once...

    and judging by half the comments so far, many of you were sitting at home with your stamp collections or helping old people across the street with their shopping. I can recall idiotic things I did at that age and Im sure a few others here can as well.

    Yes they we're stupid and they do need to be punished but calls for them to spend a year in jail is harsh and sounds like the demented hysterical shrieking of a Daily Mail columnist.

    For all their idiocy they did not display the mindless boorish thugishness that you see in some young adults and even older people these days. They didn't strike me as the type that threaten old ladies or break into peoples homes to feed a drug habit.

    They were having the time of their lives and things just got a bit out of control. Some sort of Grand Theft Auto neural programming probably kicked in.

    Im betting that with a bit of guidance these young miscreants when they grow up will turn out to be well adjusted individuals with rather fond memories of the summer of 2010.

    Remember, you were 16 once.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Yes but

      Yes but I didn't steal a fucking bus.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        @ AC, 13:19

        What he said.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Are you actually serious?

        At points in that journey had a car been coming the other way there's little chance the occupants would have survived. They couldn't even cope with parked cars and had already hit a tree so they must have known this at some level. One of them was 21 for gods sake. This is far beyond the normal japes of youthful rebellion you seem to make it out as.

        "For all their idiocy they did not display the mindless boorish thugishness that you see in some young adults and even older people these days."

        Sounds like you've got overtones of Daily Mail reader wrapped up pretty good yourself.

        1. Maliciously Crafted Packet
          WTF?

          @AC 14:06

          "Sounds like you've got overtones of Daily Mail reader wrapped up pretty good yourself."

          Is that right Mr Judge & Jury? Is that because I can distinguish between kids engaged in reckless horseplay and those with violent and malicious intent such as the thugs that kicked a 20 year old woman to death in Lancaster in August 2007?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Mr Judge & Jury???

            Are you criticising me for posting an opinion on a public comments board? Of course your opinions implying we were socially inept at 16 for not seriously endangering the lives of our local community are perfectly valid and in no way assuming.

            And yes, isolating that one horrific incident in Lancaster to paint a picture of society is the kind of knee jerk reaction you expect from the tabloids. I notice how you've missed out describing the part in that incident where the other kids on the playing fields called the police / ambulance and then stayed with the victims, trying to help them as best they could until they arrived.

          2. PsychicMonkey
            Thumb Down

            you can hardly call

            a 21 year old man a kid. the girls maybe, but as someone else said they were probably all misty eyed for the older "man". Ok mentally he's a kid, he's probably hanging around with the kids because they are easy and women his age wouldn't touch him with any sort of pole.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Yes I was 16 once...

    But I was never that stupid. I never risked people's lives or did tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage (although it was such a long time ago that it would have been "tens of pounds").

  33. Da Weezil

    Survived 16...

    I too was 16 once.. and the fact that I survived that and lived on through subsequent years was that I didn't participate in such a stupid escapade. My old man would have crippled me for life had I been involved in anything like that... and the fact that I knew he would was enough to keep me in check. I was never afraid of the old bill.. but oh boy.. I only ever had one hiding off of dad.. never wanted another!

    The scum should have to repay every single penny of damage caused - no matter how long it takes - and compensate (at hire rates) for the loss of use of ALL vehicles involved. Time to stop pussy-footing around with kids and remind them of their place in the food chain. Just another 100k to add to the accident damage costs figure that the insurers will use to justify jacking up my premium again next year

  34. David 45

    Stooopid!

    To those who seem to think it was just a childish prank, I seem to remember that the most unlawful thing we ever did as kids was scrumping a few apples, not, I repeat NOT, stealing an umpteen thousand pound double-decker bus, driving it off and putting other people's lives at risk. Amazing that nobody was struck and/or injured in this totally irresponsible incident. They should be locked up for some considerable time.

  35. This post has been deleted by its author

  36. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @Harry (10:45)

    I agree entirely...

    Although, when I come round to nick your TV, best remember to ensure all your windows and doors are fully locked, with no spare keys hidden round the place or it's YOUR fault anything got pinched.

    (Also try not to leave anything sharp lying around in case I cut myself, as that'll be your fault too...)

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    I hope the police...

    I hope the police have told them it's illegal to film children on a bus.

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