Louise Liddle shares her brave and deeply personal account of losing her husband, John, in a tragic collision with a bus. Her story highlights not only the heartbreak of losing a loved one but also critical gaps in driver training, support, and industry accountability. Through sharing her experience, Louise hopes to drive awareness and spark improvements in road safety and the standards expected of public transport services.

In May 2023, at the age of 39, I became a widow. My husband, John, was hit by a bus whilst cycling home from his football practice. My sons aged 8 and 6 lost their daddy. He was barely 200 metres from home in the North East.

We had been together for over 19 years, having met on a train whilst at University. It was very much a beautiful ‘sliding doors’ moment in time.

When John was hit by the bus, it felt like the opposite. We had lived our lives so considerately – developing our careers, moving in together, buying a house, getting married, having children and buying a house in a great area, handy for commuting into Newcastle for our jobs as well as being close to family. Our world we had built imploded.

John was a cautious and risk averse character in all aspects of our lives. That night he was wearing a helmet, lights and reflective equipment and his bike was recently serviced. Despite this, he received a significant brain injury from the impact. He was initially dead at the scene but brought back, though in a deep coma. After 18 days in ICU, he died. The medical care at Newcastle RVI was exemplary.

The police were supportive throughout and guided me throughout processes I never imagined I’d ever have to be part of.

However, there was a number of things that I started to feel disconcerted about relating to the quality and consistency of bus companies in their practice.

Firstly, police had to wait over 9 weeks before being able to formally interview the driver. This was due to issues in how he would be legally represented. Some bus companies provide legal support, some don’t. Alongside this, we had to wait while a second post-mortem was considered. He didn’t respond to the coroner. The coroner imposed a deadline. There was no response.

As a family, these two issues lead to delays in us being able to be informed anything by police and importantly being able to have John’s body in order to book a funeral.

During this time, other bus drivers were discussing things with neighbours on our estate which was deeply distressing as everyone appeared to know more than us. These neighbours had known us and our young family for 10 years. It was highly inappropriate and made me feel unsafe in my home as the driver and his colleagues knew where we lived.

The driver went back to work almost immediately. I have no issue with someone working. However, some bus companies provide support for hugely traumatic events their staff are involved in. Some don’t. This again is inconsistent across the industry.

Professional drivers are required to do so much CPD each year. There was no specifications what CPD. This also leads to inconsistencies across the industry as some will have more wide ranging training than others. In John’s case the driver did not administer CPR, would a differently trained driver have meant a different outcome for us?

Bus companies are contracted at a regional level to provide a service. I feel that some of the things I’ve talked about should be incorporated into a wider quality framework of minimum standards expected of anyone successfully gaining a publicly funded transport contract in a region. This would create consistency across regions and nationally.

After investigations, there was no criminal charge against the driver for the night he collided with our lives when John was hit. Because he was not criminally convicted, no one will ever know. In the responsible society we all endeavour to live in, this lack of responsibility and accountability within the driver profession also appears to be a gap in the transport industry. And yet he has been involved in a serious incident resulting in the death of a wonderful man, daddy to two little boys. How can the industry improve their standards of professionalism of drivers? How can drivers be seen as a profession?

I am sharing our story in the hope that I can articulate gaps in the transport industry and the system of contracting out public transport services to a variety of bus companies so that there is opportunity to address and strive for more continuous improvement. I want our experience to be heard at a strategic level as we look to drive up road safety and public services.

Updated on: 15 October 2025