A real MESSY situation

[Don (W5IT)]

I heard about someting simular hapening before with a tour bus. But this one was a messy situation.

I can only imagine the emotional stress this would cause if it were my family involved.

Considering the subject matter, lets all TRY to keep our replies "Clean".

Link to Greyhound story

Text of story,

Family Suing Greyhound After Flying Fecal Matter Covers SUV In Ohio

Nov 10, 2006 11:23 AM CST




TOLEDO -- It was Mother's Day 2004. Idyllic, beautiful. A bonding experience. Maybe Robert Stokes and his family of Graytown, Ohio were holding hands. Maybe they were singing. Whatever they were doing, they weren't expecting what happened next.

Simply put: They got hit with a blast of raw sewage while driving behind a Greyhound bus. And now they're about to relive the whole ordeal in court because they've sued the bus line for damages to their car.

The 911 call from two years ago says it all. During the call, Angela Stokes tells the operator, "We're driving down the expressway and this Greyhound bus, all of its waste. He just evacuated his stuff all over our car!" The Stokes followed the bus, and its ID numbers to the 911 operator.

"The contents of the tank toliet -- paper, feces," exploded as the family merged onto 75 North off of the Willis Parkway entrance ramp said Robert Stokes. "We took one through the windows, through the sunroof -- we were all wet with it. I had to turn on the windshield wiper; you could see pieces of toilet paper going down the road." The sewage covered Robert, Anglea, and their two young children.

The incident was not only a driving hazard, but a health hazard. It sent the Stokes family into decontamination mode. "We first went to the emergency room under the advice of our doctor; and then she ordered follow up tests. We had to have baseline test for AIDS, Hepatitis -- a whole manner of things," Robert Stokes said.

Lucky for the Stokes, besides their totalled car, their long-term health hasn't been affected by the blast of sewage. "Anything could have happened," said Robert.

The Stokes family has sued Greyhound Lines in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court for unspecified damages.

[Don (W5IT)]

I heard about someting simular hapening before with a tour bus. But this one was a messy situation.

I can only imagine the emotional stress this would cause if it were my family involved.

Considering the subject matter, lets all TRY to keep our replies "Clean".

Link to Greyhound story

Text of story,

Family Suing Greyhound After Flying Fecal Matter Covers SUV In Ohio

Nov 10, 2006 11:23 AM CST




TOLEDO -- It was Mother's Day 2004. Idyllic, beautiful. A bonding experience. Maybe Robert Stokes and his family of Graytown, Ohio were holding hands. Maybe they were singing. Whatever they were doing, they weren't expecting what happened next.

Simply put: They got hit with a blast of raw sewage while driving behind a Greyhound bus. And now they're about to relive the whole ordeal in court because they've sued the bus line for damages to their car.

The 911 call from two years ago says it all. During the call, Angela Stokes tells the operator, "We're driving down the expressway and this Greyhound bus, all of its waste. He just evacuated his stuff all over our car!" The Stokes followed the bus, and its ID numbers to the 911 operator.

"The contents of the tank toliet -- paper, feces," exploded as the family merged onto 75 North off of the Willis Parkway entrance ramp said Robert Stokes. "We took one through the windows, through the sunroof -- we were all wet with it. I had to turn on the windshield wiper; you could see pieces of toilet paper going down the road." The sewage covered Robert, Anglea, and their two young children.

The incident was not only a driving hazard, but a health hazard. It sent the Stokes family into decontamination mode. "We first went to the emergency room under the advice of our doctor; and then she ordered follow up tests. We had to have baseline test for AIDS, Hepatitis -- a whole manner of things," Robert Stokes said.

Lucky for the Stokes, besides their totalled car, their long-term health hasn't been affected by the blast of sewage. "Anything could have happened," said Robert.

The Stokes family has sued Greyhound Lines in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court for unspecified damages.

[Brigadoon]

Yep, I'd sue too...

[Hitchhiker]

I wonder if it was dumped due to a mechanical malfunction or if some irresponsible person pushed a 'dump' button? I'd think the control to dump the tank would be located away from other controls to prevent accidental discharges.

Anyone know how Greyhound has this dump mechanism set up?

[RV Wizard]

You would think they would at least have it capped incase the wrong button were accedintly pushed!

[Don (W5IT)]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hitchhiker:
I wonder if it was dumped due to a mechanical malfunction or if some irresponsible person pushed a 'dump' button? I'd think the control to dump the tank would be located away from other controls to prevent accidental discharges.

Anyone know how Greyhound has this dump mechanism set up? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Richard I would not doubt that there was a button or switch easily accessible to the driver to do such a thing. We had a Prevost conversion "Tour Bus"� at the shop for a while we managed. (Band type) It had a rocker switch labeled "MP"�. It also had what looked like a water hose fitting just behind the rear wheels on the driver's side that I could not figure out what it was....

Well one day I was goofing around and decided I wanted to find out what this "MP"� switch did. So I promptly switched it to the on position. When I did, I found out what that water hose fitting went to as well..... It was to a macerator pump on the waste tank. (Black and grey were combined into one tank) It started shooting waste water out of that hose fitting that went about three to four feet before it hit the ground.

Needless to say, I disconnected THAT switch!

[charliez]

I'd be surprised if this was a real story. Sounds more like an internet hoax. Buses and planes and ships don't spill thier sewer every time someone flushes, and people don't confuse the sewer connections on an rv with the gas tank and try to siphon it.

[Moder2]

Charliez, I peacefully disagree with you.

In my days at college I drove for a bus company. We had many schoolbuses and about 100 Motorcoaches. I drove a school route between my classes, and after my PM route, I would work in the shop, cleaning busses and helping with service work.

Our Motorcoaches were all fitted with an Airvalve on the dump, which was controlled by the drivers compartment. The reason for this setup is simply dumping at the terminal. Our Dump process was a bit different than an RV, we had a large "grate" in the wash bay, and one by the fuel pumps. The driver simple would pull over it and hit the switch, and since there was no terminating cap, and the dump tube was vertical, it just went in the drain.

I can certainly see this as a plausable situation.

[Kablewizard]

I have to agree with the yea they dump it from inside. I had to spend 3 days at the local jail/mental hospital area, they are combined and on all three days when the prisoner bus came back before it entered the compound, it would back up and a guard would open a grate the bus would dump and then drive ahead, the guard had to be sure nothing was in there then he closed the grate got back in the bus and it went through the gate.

[Fxrscotty]

This sounds right out of thr RV movie.

[Jestme13]

Come on now, like in my business, you should know and expect SHI- to happen.

[rebelsbeach]

Tis a real story folks....

HERE is a news link....

[Don (W5IT)]

Well I did put a link to the story on one of our local news stations web site. That to show it was NOT just an internet story...

[rebelsbeach]

Guess I missed that link as I'm always used to seeing the words of wisdom in your posts....Different stations on our links,but the same story....sorry!