Minibus Club Article Archive

We all know minibuses can’t fly but if you drive a minibus with passengers aboard, you have as much responsibility for your passengers’ safety as any airline pilot. In some respects you have more; an airline pilot can’t knock anyone down at a road junction because his brakes don’t work! Getting into the habit of making the five following checks pre-journey is easy and should be your standard practice.

1: Windscreen
Is it clean? Is it chipped? Is it cracked? You can’t see properly through a grimy windscreen in any conditions. A chipped or cracked minibus windscreen may be repairable but not after a speed bump or pothole has caused it to shatter. Keep it in tip-top condition and remember to check there’s enough washer fluid and that the wiper blades are perfect.

2: Mirrors
In some minibuses, the mirrors represent all of your rear vision. They can’t help if they’re dirty, chipped, cracked or maladjusted. Don’t forget that the mirrors can be bumped out of alignment when your minibus is parked. Don’t move a millimetre until your mirrors are 100 percent in every respect.

3: Lights
A light that isn’t working isn’t a light at all. Similarly, dirty lighting is inefficient. It only takes a few minutes to clean and check them. Also, carry spares bulbs (obligatory in most Continental countries) and fuses. Minibus lights operate in the same way as car lights and they need just as much attention.

4: Tyres
Squeezing the last few miles out of your tyre’s treads may be praiseworthy but your minibus insurance company may disagree about this. You need a minimum of 1.6mm of tread around the entire circumference of the tyres to be legal. Tread wear indicators are moulded in at the 2mm level and if these are showing level with the tread, you’re tyres are beyond a safe limit – 3mm all round is the practicable minimum tread level for a minibus.
Examine the tyres for splits, bulges, tread damage and sidewall cracking. Any and all of these can put you at risk of a blowout. Make sure the tyres at the minibus maker’s recommended pressure and don’t forget the spare - it may be needed in a hurry and if it isn’t checked, you’ll be in trouble.

5: Fuel
A minibus that’s run out of fuel obviously won’t be going anywhere, at least until the breakdown service arrives. Roadside fuel starvation is an embarrassing way of admitting that you were too lazy/preoccupied/forgetful (delete as applicable) to put in enough fuel for the entire journey.

Remember that servicing, on a yearly basis at least, is also your responsibility. Have servicing carried out by a reputable garage and don’t forget safety checks on the suspension, brakes and steering of your minibus. If you fail to look after your minibus, you are failing to look after your passengers. If the vehicle is unroadworthy, it is your fault and your minibus insurance company would be within its rights to deny any claim arising in consequence.

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Minibus insurance, like any other vehicle insurance, generally isn’t amusing. However, some insurance claims can’t help but raise a titter, like these did.

1: Weather Eye

This winter’s appalling weather prompted a driver to call a taxi (it may have been a minibus), for safety’s sake. When the taxi arrived, it skidded into his car. Oops!

2: A Sense of Duty

How about the car that made a citizen’s arrest? Thieves reckoned a Land Rover was the ideal car to steal for ram raiding. They aimed their ill-gotten transport at the doors of a jeweller’s shop. The trusty Land Rover hit the roller shutter door, climbed it, and fell on its tail. As the vehicle had wedged itself tightly in the doorway, the thieves couldn’t open the doors. When the police arrived in their marked minibus, they freed them - and then arrested them.

3: Woolly Jumper

A driver and his passenger got a shock when driving home from the pub. Something hit their car’s roof with a huge bang, denting it enough to hit the occupant’s heads. The car was braking hard and something slid down off the roof, landed on the bonnet, jumped off and ran away. It was a sheep, which had taken a leap of faith from a transporter lorry that had been involved in a collision with a minibus.

4: Dogged Driving

One man and his dog went to - the local shop for a paper. The man came back, newspaper in hand, to find the minibus - and the dog - were nowhere in sight. When asked, a passer-by said he’d just seen the minibus, being driven by a large dog. Which proves that if you leave a dog untended in a vehicle, it’s lead can become entangled with the handbrake - and release it. Fortunately, a parked car stopped the minibus before its canine commander had gone too far.

5: Nutkin Ventured

What is more enjoyable than a nice drive in an open car, through the sunlit woods? Usually nothing is but here, the car’s lady driver got a surprise visit. A careless squirrel fell out of a tree into her lap. The startled driver was so taken aback by this and the squirrel’s frantic escape attempts that she drove into a tree. A breakdown patrol minibus took the crestfallen lady home; the squirrel was last seen scrambling rapidly up the tree.

6: Rising Damp

The nice part of camper van ownership is that you can pull up and take a snooze in the back whenever you like. One Volkswagen Minibus owner did just this but made the mistake of parking on a beach. He woke to the sound of someone’s hammering on the window; he survived but the rising tide claimed his pride and joy. VW went down - happily without all hands.

7: One into Two Won’t Go

Two non minibus-driving motorists wanted the same parking space and they both went for it at once. In doing this, they got themselves firmly wedged against neighbouring parked cars and a minibus. Neither motorist could move and neither could open a door, they were stuck fast. The assembled bystanders found it hugely entertaining!

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If you’d like to save money on your minibus insurance, look no further than The Minibus Club. Request a FREE quote now by calling our hotline on 0845 609 0323 or visit our website at www.minibusclub.co.uk.