A Hove shopkeeper was hit by a bus yesterday months after warning about the danger of bringing in loading restrictions outside his store.
Adam Campbell, who runs Gill’s Home and Garden in Western Road, Hove, can no longer load and unload his van legally outside his shop.
Brighton and Hove City Council changed the rules earlier this year, meaning that Mr Campbell must now either unload from across the road or carry loads from the nearest side street.
As he unloaded his van yesterday morning (Thursday 10 May) he was struck by a bus. He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with a suspected head injury.
Mr Campbell said: “I’m lucky to be alive. It’s my third incident with a bus this week. They’ve taken both the wing mirrors off my van.
“I had £6,000 of stock in the van which I couldn’t leave in there so I had to unload it. I had to park opposite the shop on the other side of the road.
“There was a big gap between two stationary buses and the one at the back suddenly pulled out and sent me flying through the air.
“When I landed I had pain in my head, neck and back so I just laid very still. I was carted off in an ambulance.
“I spent seven hours strapped to a back board and had to have a CT scan.”
He said that he was fortunate not to have suffered any broken bones – or worse – although he said that the soft tissue damage was painful.
Mr Campbell said: “I’m in pain in my neck and shoulders and I’ve got a headache. It’s affecting my mobility and how I work.
“The bus hit the box I was holding and that hit me, sending me flying. It was very frightening.
“When he went to pull out, I think the driver looked in his mirror but didn’t look ahead.
“The bus was jutting out into the road where he stopped and I had Brighton buses beeping at their own bus trying to get past.”
He said that, having pointed out the danger of changing the loading and unloading rules, he was considering whether to sue the council – and the councillors who took the decision.
“This is what I feared would happen when they approved this.
“I will be speaking to Brighton and Hove Buses about an insurance claim. They’ve already agreed to pay out for one of my wing mirrors this week.”
A spokesman for the council said: “We’re sorry to hear that anyone has been hit by a bus.
“The council proposed a loading ban along Western Road to combat indiscriminate parking which has been causing considerable disruption to bus services.
“It is one of the most congested roads in the city and parked cars add to this and affect other road users such as cyclists, vehicle drivers and pedestrians who have to negotiate around them.
“We also recognise that the shops along Western Road need deliveries and other servicing, so the new loading restrictions apply during peak hours only, on one side of the road between Holland Road and Montpelier Road.
“To clarify, the ‘no loading restriction’ applies between 7am and 10am and 4pm and 7pm on the north side of the road.
“This will ease congestion during peak times and enable businesses to have loading and unloading facilities on parts of the road and outside of peak times.”
Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Buses, said: “We are co-operating with the police investigation into the incident yesterday morning when it’s alleged a bus hit a pedestrian.”
There was no restriction imposed on Tesco when it got planning consent for its outlet on the corner of Holland Road (and never did explain what it did during construction with the listed bronze window frames when it replaced them with cheap tat).
Artics often block access to Western Road outside that Tesco for ambulances, buses and cars approaching from Church Road.
I think this man should have the right to unload outside his own shop. This is a longstanding trader and member of that local community. Commiserations to him.