‘We hit the bridge so hard we had momentum to come out the other side’ (Monsters of Rock, 1980)
At school, I was voted “most likely to be killed on the road before the age of 16”. It was a prophecy that came mighty close to being fulfilled. On the way to Monsters of Rock, aged 15, we were put on special shuttle buses, running every 20 minutes, from Nottingham to Donington. Ours was half-full. Sixty thousand rock fans made the best of some iffy event organisation and enjoyed the day; Rainbow playing Stargazer overcame the disappointment of Graham Bonnet’s on-stage resignation meltdown announcement.
But then the fun started. All those buses out from Nottingham to Donington, but only one to go back in among the unlit muddy scrum. I managed to get on a double-decker, but it was massively overcrowded. Having been up since 6am, I dozed off. When I woke up, I looked out of the front of the bus and slowly realised that all I could see was a railway bridge. Not under, over or round it, just the solid-looking steel and stone of … A BRIDGE! Needless to say, I ducked. We hit the bridge so hard and so fast we had enough momentum to come out the other side. Roof, windows and frames were all gone and I had glass stuck in my head for 18 months afterwards. Miraculously, no one was killed. 1981? We went by car!
There's a report in here of a double-decker bridge hit in 1980:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/30/naked-almost-dead-festival-horror-stories