A bus driver was locked in a stand-off with another motorist that lasted an HOUR – and started reading his paper as he refused to budge.
Traffic backed up for more than half a mile in both directions as both vehicles came nose to nose.
Motorists got out of the their cars pleading with the two men to give way and eventually police were called to sort it out.
The row caused traffic chaos as the two men clashed in a narrow residential road in Bath, Somerset on Thursday lunchtime.
Witnesses said the First Bus driver went through a sign telling him to give way to oncoming traffic and found himself blocked by an approaching newly-qualified driver.
At one point the bus driver – who had a handful of passengers -took out his morning paper, closed his side window and started reading as he ignored the pleas of people to move.
In footage of the row, the young tattooed driver of the black Volkswagen Lupo can be heard arguing with the driver and other residents.
The man, who has ginger hair and is wearing shorts, says: “I was already coming up and he came down.
“I’ve only been driving for a couple of months.
“It’s my right of way innit. That’s what I mean.
“I’ve got it all on video, that’s what I’m saying.”
He can be seen shouting through the bus window saying: “You’ll be on You Tube later mate. You’ll be on Facebook later mate.
“All the members of the internet will get to see this mate.
“You’re trying to get threatening mate.”
Turning to residents who are trying to resolve the jam, the car driver said: “I was already coming through mate.
“He looked at home and then decided to come through.
“He was trying to prove a point because he’s driving a bus mate.
“Everyone who lives on this road knows it’s my right of way.
“He’s got members of the public on the bus and he’s there swearing a a young lad.”
The incident happened at a point where the road narrows and signs and markings tell traffic to give way to oncoming vehicles.
It is understood that it was the bus driver who called police.
Another video shows him reading the paper and being asked why he called police, and he responds by sliding up his window.
Locals can be heard on videos trying to reason with the pair.
One man can be heard saying: “We’ve got work to do.”
Another woman can be heard pleading: “Listen, listen, sometimes I have to back down [when I use this road] and sometimes that’s what life is like.”
Resident Rebecca Shields, 49, said the road was blocked around twice a week by drivers who ignore the give way sign.
She said: “This latest incident just threw up quite a few questions again for local residents about the road layout and whether it works.
“We’re really fed up that this keeps happening.
“Quite often there is a stand-off with neither party budging.
“Drivers don’t seem to understand who has the right of way.”
The stand-off on Coronation Avenue began around 1pm and continued for around an hour.
Avon and Somerset police confirmed officers were called to the scene and said traffic was moving by 2pm.
Andrew Sherrington, general manager for bus operators Bath First West of England, said they looking into the incident.
He added: “We are aware of a very serious issue that occurred today on Coronation Avenue.
“We offer our apologies to all those affected by today’s events.
“We cannot and will not accept behaviour which has been reported to us today from any of our staff. I can confirm that we are dealing with this matter swiftly and appropriately.”
This stand-off comes just a week after two Mercedes drivers refuse to back down in a similar incident in a tunnel in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
The stubborn bus driver who refused to move in the hour-long stand-off told motorist Ewan Langley he would “lose his life” – before calling him a “ginger c**t”.
Shocked Ewan, 21, was driving the car in the confrontation and filmed it on his camera phone.
His clip shows the bus driver get out of cab on the Number 10 service and open his door where he threatens and verbally abuses Ewan.
The bus driver asks hims: “You can’t drive can you mate?
“What’s that got to do with it? You’re a big f**king man because you’ve got a camera?”
Ewan tells him he is going to lose his job ‘representing’ First and the bus driver replies: “F**k yourself mate.
“You’ll lose you f**king life in a second, not you better f**king move.
“Do me a favour – video this. Representing go f**k yourself you ginger c**t.”
“Go f**k yourself and your f**king mother.”
Ewan tells him not to talk about his mum and the driver replies: “Well don’t f**king stop in the road then you c**t.
“I don’t give a shit – I’m getting paid.”
Speaking yesterday Ewan said the driver only had to reverse “five yards” and he would have been able to squeeze past.
He said there were around a dozen passengers on the bus at the time, and many got off, and he still insisted he was in the right.
The agency worker, who is currently a van driver, said: “He was quite aggressive and abusive, in an ill-mannered way.
“I feel more sorry for the old man on the bus because he was getting the bus down to the shops and he’s witnessed something he doesn’t want to see.
“For a bus driver to get aggressive when there were passengers on the bus and it was my right of way is out of order really.
“The bus driver has seen me coming and slowed up to let me through but because I didn’t speed up he carried on coming towards me.
“And then he stopped me right by the cone that says my right of way, before the road splits back into two.
“If he had reversed just five yards I could have squeezed through and carried on going.
“It was my right of way anyway so I stayed there until the police turned up.
“Everyone was on my side. It is so silly really.
“Everyone was asking him to move but he wasn’t playing ball.
“The police said to me I should have stayed in my car and phoned them myself, but in the footage I’ve got I don’t say one swear word or nothing towards him.
“I literally kept my cool and basically laughed at him. I let him dig himself a hole.”
Police said they were investigating as possible public order offence and would be speaking to both drivers.
Avon and Somerset police said: “We were called to the incident.
“It was resolved when the officer who went there asked the car driver to reverse, which he got him to do.
“We are interviewing witnesses and speaking to both driver to see if a public order offence has been committed by either man.
“We would ask witnesses to get in touch with us on 101.”
