Bank Holiday Monday Blues?

Another Bank Holiday, well, the first of 2011.  While many people in Britain are off, I and a number of my fellow bus drivers worked, to keep London moving.  I usually volunteer to work on Bank Holidays, because I don't have any family in this country and I am happy to get the extra pay that is offered.  Traffic is light and we usually run to a Sunday schedule.  A number of people are still coming on board unaware that fares have increased.

While mostly uneventful, I did have one "moment."  In the afternoon, as I was driving in service, an warning alarm sounded, along with a warning light on my dashboard.  It was the alarm indicating that the emergency exit door was open.  Looking at my offside wing mirror, I didn't see the door physically open, so I figured someone had just opened the latch.  I pulled over at the next bus stop, put on the parking brake on, and put the gearbox into neutral.  After opening the door to my cab, I straightened my uniform.  Might as well try to look my best when amongst the passengers.  Then I locked the cab door behind me and walked purposefully don the aisle, toward the rear.  What did I find?  On the rear bench seat, next to the emergency exit, a young toddler.She must have touched the emergency exit door handle and accidentally unlatched it.  Her mother wasn't even sitting next to her, but was in another, side facing seat, ninety degrees to the little girl's left.  I reached over the girl and opened the emergency exit door, then slammed it shut.  This silenced the alarm.  Looking at the mother, I said, "perhaps it's not a good idea for her to sit there.  She must have hit the latch and that sets off an alarm up front."

As I walked back to the cab, I noticed that the mother did move the little girl.  Perhaps I should have pointed out that her daughter could have fully opened the door and fallen out of the bus, right into traffic, while the bus was moving.  The little girl could have been killed.  Oh well, another life saved.  All in a day's work, I suppose.  Parents, don't place young children next to the emergency exit door.  Not only can it cause a delay in the bus service, as the driver has to stop and secure the door, if the child unlatches it, it's dangerous.  Your child could potentially end up as road kill.