Rudie Can’t Steer? TfL double-decker bus crashes into London bike shop with driver injured

The Route 19 TfL bus crashed into Velorution, an urban bike shop on King’s Road, Chelsea in a freakish incident that saw the driver being rushed to the hospital and emergency services closing the road down.

A bike shop employee got the fright of his life on Wednesday afternoon when the driver of a double-decker bus sent the vehicle straight into the side of the cycling store located on the corner of King’s Road and Beaufort Street.

Velorution is a specialist in urban, folding and electric bikes, many of which were hanging in the window at the time of the incident.

The bike story company, which also has three other stores in London said: “It’s unclear why the bus, which runs between Battersea Bridge and Finsbury Park, veered into the shop rather than continuing down the King’s Road.”

Today, we had the pleasure of a personal visit from @tfl at our Chelsea store. Thankfully everyone is perfectly ok. @MetroUK @LonEveSta @standardnews #london #chelsea #buscrash #tfl pic.twitter.com/nMdx6bDZ6s

— Velorution (@_velorution) April 5, 2023

CCTV from inside bike shop Velorution, on the corner of King’s Road and Beaufort Street, captured the moment the Route 19 bus ploughed into the building.

Staff member Sean Hayhow, who can be seen in the footage jumping back in alarm at the moment of impact, said: “To be honest, I was just so shocked by the incident. It’s not something you expect to happen on a quiet Wednesday afternoon.”

“We’d like to wish anyone who was injured on the bus the all best in their recovery. I’m thankful that Sean, who was in the shop at the time, wasn’t hurt,” Jonathan Cole, the owner of Velorution, added.

“We chose the location on King’s Road for our fourth Velorution store because of its tradition as a shopping street and a busy thoroughfare in the area - little did I think that something like this would happen!”

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Velorution informed us that the Chelsea store will temporarily be closed while they assist emergency services and TfL with their enquiries and help them in dealing with the incident.

LFB and emergency services on King's Road, Chelsea (image: Velorution)

Transport for London replied to road.cc's request for a comment, and updated us with the information that the person rushed to the hospital was the bus driver who suffered a minor injury.

Tom Cunnington, TfL’s Head of Bus Business Development, said: “There were no injuries to passengers or members of the public when a bus collided with a building in Chelsea yesterday, but the bus driver sustained a minor injury and was taken to hospital as a precaution. We are supporting the police and operator’s investigation into what happened.”

London Fire Brigade (LFB) warned of “heavy traffic” in the area, as the incident left surrounding roads shut on Wednesday afternoon.

The brigade added in a tweet around 4.15pm: “There is heavy traffic in the area with roads closed as work takes place to make the scene safe.”

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Of course, the nature of the incident has prompted more than a few jokes on social media.

When the shop updated its Twitter account to clarify that its employees were okay, one London cyclist cheekily replied, “Sorry this happened. Hope you all ok. Obviously, as cyclists, you should have been wearing hi-vis.”

Another person wrote: “How unsafe, I don’t see a single helmet worn by anyone.”

Meanwhile, one road.cc writer couldn’t help but link the incident to the Clash’s ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’, from the band’s classic album London Calling, with its references to “the route of the 19 bus” and “rude and reckless” behaviour.

Although, we certainly hope no one involved was ‘drinking brew for breakfast’.