Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect to be able to carry paint home on a bus?

30 replies

goingtohaveagoodnightssleep · 08/12/2009 17:08

I bought some paint in Homebase today and when bording the bus to go home was told by the driver that he couldn't allow paint on the bus! I thought he was joking but he showed me the sign saying no paint or petrol. It was just normal matt emulsion, nothing highly toxic or flammable.

AIBU to expect to be able to take my paint home on the bus?

OP posts:
mulledfruitshootandcheese · 08/12/2009 17:10

buy one of those fabricy £1 bags in tesco or Sainsburys. The non see through ones, then they wont see the paint.
(just don't drop it)

ilovesprouts · 08/12/2009 17:15

yes i do the above too

AllarmBells · 08/12/2009 17:17

Agree with fruitshoot. Try and smuggle. But hold it by the handle of the tin and don't drop it. It will probably hit the edge of the tin and spill everywhere. You might expect it would fall flat on its base and not spill, but that's not what paint tends to do (butter side of toast comes to mind).

I don't think it's unreasonable for paint to not be allowed, it makes a vile mess.

more · 08/12/2009 17:33

how many people have actually dropped a tin of paint and the lift just flew off? I have to use a screwdriver or something else metallic to get the stupid lid off. It is not something that comes off easy!!

covycrump · 08/12/2009 17:44

This happened to DP and me a few weeks ago. I'd already swiped my Oyster (so had paid) and was bleating about being 8 months pregnant and incapable of walking all the way home, but the horrible bus driver wouldn't budge. It's a stupid rule. There is far more risk of a drunk person showering puke all over a bus than a lid flying of a tin of paint, but they don't ban pissed people from buses. I don't quite understand what they expect people without cars to do.

biggirlsdontcry · 08/12/2009 17:51

ok have asked dh about this as he is a bus driver , he says it is unfortunate but the reason behind the sign is-if that tin of paint fell over & spilled it would ruin the bus & also other passengers could sue the bus company for damages etc , also the fact the paint is known as a flammable liquid (although as you said Matt emulsion is mostly water based ) still its 1 rule for everyone .

biggirlsdontcry · 08/12/2009 17:55

although dh says the driver was a bit of a git for not letting you on as he lets people carry paint on his bus ,

ThumbleBells · 08/12/2009 17:58

if it was normal matt emulsion, then it would be water soluble not oil-based and therefore would contain no flammable solvents. YANBU - he is a bit of a git.

can't imagine the lid flying off a tin of paint - they mostly take an intensive few minutes with a screwdriver to get the lid off IME.

HappyChristmasFromKimi · 08/12/2009 18:15

DH (who is a builder) says paint is not allowed on public transport, he also finds this odd.

trixie123 · 08/12/2009 18:16

this happened to my friend in Cambridge. He doesn't drive and had to take a taxi home. The bus driver told him he should have put it in a carrier bag as he wouldn't then have seen it! My friend's girlfriend works for the local paper and so it made a story and he ended up being mentioned on Loose Women and being asked to open the new branch of Fired Earth (where he had bought the paint from)! oh, YANBU

sarah293 · 08/12/2009 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

onepieceoflollipop · 08/12/2009 18:22

I have no comment to make regarding tins of paint on buses. However in response to those questioning how easy/hard it would be for the lid to fly off.

Well, I have done it twice. Once was very bad in the footwell of my car. The lid pinged off and it sloshed into all the footwells. (it only tipped over slightly for the lid to fly off)

Fruitbeard · 08/12/2009 18:27

You also aren't supposed to carry large glass objects on buses, as I found out when trying to take a glass-topped coffee table home from the junk shop in Islington where I'd found it.

I was a bit 'waah! how the hell do I take this home now?' but decided not all drivers could possibly be such jobsworths, waited for the next bus and nowt was said.

crankytwanky · 08/12/2009 18:28

I have heard of this happening. It made our local rag years ago. The bus company, (Hampshire Stagecoach) ended up conceding that emulsion was fine. Tis not flammable, you see!

ThumbleBells · 08/12/2009 18:30

at onepieceoflollipop!
Was it emulsion or oil-based? Was it very hot? I can see that a very hot car/day with a solvent-based paint could cause some interesting pressure-based ishoos but not otherwise - you must have been very unlucky!

madwomanintheattic · 08/12/2009 18:32

lol, you want to try getting it on a plane

exactly the same rule lol.

it has to be booked dangerous air freight.

ThumbleBells · 08/12/2009 18:38

but that makes sense, madwoman - because of the pressure ishoos on a plane. Don't get those on most buses...

MadamDeathstare · 08/12/2009 18:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

onepieceoflollipop · 08/12/2009 18:40

Thumble it was a warmish day. (not hot particularly). It was that fence paint, so really stained the interior of my car. I had to pay a car valet man a very big fee for a weekend urgent call out.

It was quite funny at the time. A group of lovely friends were painting my fence as a favour. We were running low on paint, so I popped off to Wilkinsons...

I was about half a mile from home but due to the main road couldn't physically stop so had to drive along as it sloshed around the base of the car and up my legs/jeans etc.

When I got home I was very and said to my lovely friend "where is your dh, I need to speak to him in private!?" I knew he would know what to do.

Anyway, he grabbed all the car mats and showered them off for me, also did his best to clean up but to no avail.

My friend was fine about me asking for her dh, she thought I had crashed into their car and wanted to confess to him rather than her,

onepieceoflollipop · 08/12/2009 18:43

It must be a fairly common problem as I have often seen signs in diy/hardware stores warning customers to ensure the paint is secure when travelling. (the lid pinging off I mean)

The first time I knew it to happen was emulsion in my dad's car, years ago. Magnolia iirc. (cold day)

octopusinabox · 08/12/2009 18:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

madwomanintheattic · 08/12/2009 19:11

i think it's in case there is an accident - for the same reason that trucks carrying dg have to have the appropriate signs on the vehicle plates to warn emergency services...

(i was being a litlle bit tongue in cheek earlier lol - have never actually tried to board a plane with a pot of any sort of paint...)

Mishy1234 · 08/12/2009 19:53

Very strange, I'd never heard of this before. I would have thought of the petrol, but never paint.

Thinking about it though, it doesn't seem unreasonable if it's a fire risk.

CardyMow · 09/12/2009 01:18

Never heard this one??!! I've come back once from our town's B&Q (2 different buses) loaded with a rug a lamp and 3 tins of paint??!! AND I've got on my bus from my supermarket to my house carrying a stepladder I'd bought for a fiver from tesco's!! I have to bus everything, not sure if they're making an exception for me as they know about my epilepsy? (dated one of the drivers a few yrs ago...)

sarah293 · 09/12/2009 08:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn