1906 Day Trip that ended in tragedy

The Mid Sussex Times Friday July 30 1982

TEN men were killed and another 24 injured in the worst crash in the history of the London-Brighton road. It took place on Handcross Hill in July, 1906.

The victims of a crash so horrific that even some of the high speed crashes of today pale into insignificance, all came from one village in Kent. They were members and friends of the Orpington, St Mary Cray and District Fire Brigade, and they were on their annual outing to Brighton.

It was a lovely summer’s day and the weather tempted most of the party to climb upstairs to the open top deck of their double decker Vanguard bus. Only eight remained inside the vehicle, and that made it top heavy and unstable.

The full story of the disastrous crash as the bus careered down Handcross Hill is related in a copy of the Daily Mirror of Friday, July 13, 1906, which is in the possession of Mr. Albert Clarke, of Lindfield.

The newspaper tells how the steering of the bus developed a fault as it began to travel downhill. The brakes could not hold the vehicle and as it swayed to and fro and built up to a speed of about 50 mph, the driver was unable to prevent it running into a hedge.

The reporter continued: “the omnibus bounded out again at frightful speed, again swerved, and went full tilt into a large oak tree.

“The omnibus was completely smashed. The top cut completely away from the body, flew over the hedge into the field and shivered into matchwood. The seats at the top were smashed into splinters, and the stairway of the omnibus was twisted up like a piece of wire.”

BODIES

“The chassis of the omnibus stands thrust into the hedge on the other side of the tree, with just a few sticks of framework and bits of splintered glass hanging on to it.”

Some of the passengers on top of the bus were killed instantly. Six were flung against the trunk of the tree. Bodies were found entangled in branches.

Other men, thrown off after the first impact with the hedge, escaped with injuries.

The ten men who died left widows and 25 children.

The reporter-on-the-spot wrote: “The glass of the car was shivered to pieces and the seats were ripped up, but the floor was intact. On it lay evidences of the merry-making of the happy party so cruelly overwhelmed.”