Bombers ‘won’t intimidate us’ vows bus driver

THE driver of the London bus targeted in the latest attacks on the capital yesterday issued a defiant message to the bombers and vowed to return to work.

Mark Maybanks, 38, who was driving the double-decker bus on route 26 from Waterloo to Hackney when it was involved in the incident in east London yesterday, said he and his colleagues would get on with their jobs despite recent events. “Whatever they do, we are going to be back driving our buses. They are not going to beat us.

“I’ve got a lot of feelings running round my head at the moment. It was a really frightening experience. My family were just pleased to get me back home in one piece. I need some time, but I definitely want to get back to work,” he said.

Mr Maybanks, who has worked for bus operators Stagecoach for 18 months, said that at the time of the incident his immediate concern was for his passengers.

“I’m very thankful that I got everyone off the bus successfully. That was my over-riding priority. I just did what I thought needed to be done,” he said.

Since the first bombings on July 7, Londoners have continued to travel on buses and Mr Maybanks urged passengers to keep using public transport.

“We have a brilliant public transport system and the general public should keep on using it,” he said.

“We are going to carry on doing what we are doing. It doesn’t matter how many times the terrorists try to knock us down, we will get back up again.

“We will be even stronger. They won’t intimidate us and they won’t beat us.”

Barry Arnold, managing director of Stagecoach in London, said: “Our drivers are united in vowing to carry on with their jobs. We are proud of the commitment and determination every one of them has shown.

“We have been flooded with volunteers offering to help do whatever it takes to keep bus services running.”

The number 26 bus targeted by a bomber was yesterday moved from the spot where it was abandoned.

Forensic officers in white suits and masks hitched the double-decker to the back of a tow truck and set off east along Hackney Road at 10.40am. The rucksack bomb which failed to detonate on the top deck was no longer on the bus, having been removed overnight.

Progress was slow as the tow truck and bus inched through a 30ft high screen erected on scaffolding across Hackney Road.

Police did not say where it was being taken but the number 30 bus which exploded two weeks ago was removed to a forensic laboratory in Kent.