Bus firm compensates traders after collision with market stall

A BUS firm has agreed to compensate two sisters after one its vehicles damaged their stall at Lymington market.

Morebus (Lymington and Ringwood) is set to pay over £500 to Lesley Yates and Alison Muter, who have highlighted the danger of having buses travel on the high street on market day.

Speaking to the A&T, Lesley said the bus was “dodging” a delivery van outside the Tesco store when its wing mirror collided with the covering of the stall where they sell items such as kitchen aprons, cushions and bags from their Alesney Designs range.

The wing mirror dragged the canvas covering around three feet but they were not injured.

However, she said: “If a child had been standing in the corner, or a customer, they would have been seriously hurt.”

The covering, which cost £423, was wrecked, along with an £86 shelf. Morebus insurers have agreed to refund that entire cost.

“We lost the last hour of trading that day and had to turn away customers because we were holding up the tent and trying to rescue our products strewn over the ground,” Lesley added.

The pair have been stallholders at the market for the past four years and had their current pitch for about 12 months.

Lesley, who is retired and lives in Lymington, said there have been several “similar incidents” and she had complained to the town council.

No one from Lymington and Pennington Town Council was available to comment.

Morebus operations manager Gary Rose told the A&T: “Although it didn’t crash into the gazebo, one of our buses did brush it while passing. This occurred when our driver was avoiding a collision with a lorry, which was travelling on the wrong side of the road.

“We are very sorry for any damage caused and have compensated the stallholder accordingly.

"There are currently no plans to remove the service on market day, but we do ask traders to consider access for buses when they deliver goods to the market.”