Content warning: This article contains descriptions of a road collision that resulted in serious injuries
Ever since February 2014 I have been campaigning for road crash victims and their families to be treated with kindness, compassion and better support when navigating the criminal justice system as they try to receive justice.
I advocate for road offences to be taken more seriously. I believe the Government should increase investment in road policing to improve enforcement. We need more effective deterrents, including timely penalties and appropriate sanctions for dangerous driving. I'm concerned that current enforcement levels may not provide sufficient deterrent, and drivers may feel the risk of being caught is too low. This needs to be addressed.
25th April 2007 is a day etched forever in my mind. It was a beautiful sunny day, and summer felt like it was just around the corner. My twin sister had given birth to a baby boy and my mother Elizabeth came to stay with my family and me in Mortlake, south London. That morning, we planned to go to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital so we could visit the new baby and we were so excited. My husband walked my two older children to primary school and he went to work. My mother, my daughter Pollyanna (who was only two years old at the time) set off to catch the bus to Hammersmith. My mother loved London buses and she much preferred them to the train. Pollyanna was in her buggy, and it was only a short walk to the bus depot. As we crossed the bridge the bus depot looked really crowded and there was quite a lot of angry shouting.
However, we did not really think very much of it, and we entered the bus depot on the pavement. Pollyanna at this point had got out of her buggy and was holding Gran Gran's hand. I remember a child's lunch box was lying on the pavement, so I picked it up to place it on a post. As I turned round, all I could see was a bus coming at ferocious speed, straight for us. Instead of turning right into the depot, it drove straight onto the pavement. It was like a bomb going off. It was that quick. My legs were trapped under the bus, and I was like the jam in the middle of a horrid sandwich - bus, me, wall. But despite a head injury I did slip in and out of consciousness, which is why I remember such trauma and sadness. Out of one eye I could see my darling, precious, beautiful mother slipping away. She did not survive. Out of my other eye I could see my little daughter about twenty feet away. She had been flung through the air, and her leg was hanging off. I could not even help her. Imagine how that felt. I shouted for my mother so loudly. Even at that point I was so angry. I wanted her to answer me, but she did not. Pollyanna's thigh started swelling like a balloon. It must have been all over the news very quickly because my poor husband received a call at work about what had happened but there were conflicting news reports on the radio.
As he made the terrible journey to Mortlake on a train he did not know if we were alive or not. Four surgeons spent seven hours later that day trying to save Pollyanna's leg, but she had to have it amputated. I suffered a severe degloving injury, amongst other injuries but the fact that my mother had died was unbearable. I could not cope and I was too badly injured to see Pollyanna, so I could not see her for four days. Eventually when I saw her, I was so sad to see her tiny leg, and how pale and thin she looked. I was in a wheelchair, so she was placed on my knee, so tiny and delicate. Tubes and bandages everywhere.
Months and years passed and life felt so chaotic. The bus operator refused to talk to me. I would ring up the Head office, but they just refused to speak to me. I could not understand how people could be so cruel. I just wanted them to say sorry, but they would not. It was hard work juggling looking after my other two children, having other people to look after them when really all they wanted was me. It made me feel upset, hopeless and angry. To this day, nearly 19 years later I don't think my wider family have got over the terrible way our mother died. And my father had a series of sudden heart attacks and died five years later. Pollyanna has grown to be an amazing girl and despite everything dancing is her passion. As a child she has spent months in a wheelchair and of course she has needed new legs every few months as she has grown. We have lost count of how many operations she has had as a child to trim the amputation stump.
As a parent it is so heart-breaking to see your child suffer. I have had years of counselling to try and assuage the guilt I feel, but it never really goes away. Why did she lose her leg and not me? But the reason I campaign so hard is because the system of personal injury law, the criminal justice system, the ongoing pain that road crime causes seems so misunderstood by the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department of Transport even the Victim's Commissioner's office. Road crashes are not inevitable, they are preventable and on average 4 people die every day on UK roads and hundreds more suffer life changing injuries. These crashes are sudden, violent and unacceptable. Road crime and the damage it causes costs the tax payer billions of pounds every year. This is money that should be spent on policing our roads - preventing such devastation.
In February 2014 - seven years after our crash I met Boris Johnson when he was the Mayor of London. He asked me if anyone had ever apologised and I said no. He arranged a meeting very quickly and finally TfL and the operator said sorry. I said "sorry must mean sorry and things must change". I really did not want people to suffer like my family did. I was at least lucky to have a very supportive husband and many supportive friends and I received so much kindness from them. I really worry about people who may be alone, about people who did not have a support network. How would they cope if they could not work? How would they navigate the criminal justice system? How would they ever receive justice? Would they be exploited financially by the legal system?
I began having meetings with TfL to tell our story of how difficult life had become after our crash and in February 2016, the TfL Sarah Hope Line was launched as a "voice of kindness" to road crash victims and their families in London.
The TfL Sarah Hope Line has changed since it was set up. We support those who have been involved in, or affected by, a life-changing or traumatic incident on the TfL network. We offer practical support, private counselling (the voice of kindness) and there is no time limit because we understand that people affected by incidents that happen years ago can suffer trauma many years later. We have a dedicated team on hand to make sure that people get the help they deserve. We also work in partnership with organisations that can provide further specialised support. For example, road crash victims in London are now supported by the road safety charity Brake. TfL and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) co-fund this service.
On February 16th 2026, Sarah Hope Line becomes 10 years old. This anniversary will be marked with an event in TfL's office and I have helped produce a film with TfL and members of the Sarah Hope Line team which will be launched on the day. I want to raise the profile of the Sarah Hope Line and highlight how important safety on and around buses is – especially as bus franchising and Enhanced Partnerships are gathering pace around England.
Sarah Hope MBE
Founder of the TfL funded Sarah Hope Line
www.sarahhopembe.com