KEY POINTS:
Looming large in the windscreen, Bernadette Peters knew the oncoming bus was going to hit her car - but she was helpless to move out of the way.
Trapped in peak-hour traffic on Auckland's Mt Eden Rd, Peters said the bus cut in front of her to avoid some road works in the bus lane, ripping her front bumper off and mangling the left-hand wheel.
As the bus driver attempted to take his vehicle through an "impossible" gap, Peters said, her car scraped along the entire length of the bus, pushing her towards the oncoming traffic.
"It was really scary. As he accelerated more, I got pushed towards the middle of the road.
"I couldn't turn left and I couldn't turn right, so I had to go where he was flicking me.
"I didn't know what was going to happen and it was making that crackling, horrible metallic screech."
But instead of stopping, the driver "hooned off" and drove through the Balmoral Rd lights before stopping at the next bus stop, according to witnesses who later emailed the 23-year-old Peters.
To make matters worse, none of the car drivers who saw the accident stopped to help her, or give witness statements.
With no chivalrous cavalry in sight, Peters was left to change the tyre by herself, tape up the broken bumper and then drive to a friend's house in nearby Epsom.
After immediately reporting the accident to police, and still shaken, Peters rang Stagecoach to complain and to track down the bus driver. She was told to call back the next day, but the bus company kept offering excuses for why it had not found the driver.
"It was like pulling teeth. I just got so upset, they were so incredibly rude to me, " Peters said.
A workmate suggested that Peters write to the Herald's Sideswipe column to appeal for witnesses, after which three people emailed their accounts of the accident.
The matter is now with insurers.
Steve Wade, head of marketing and communications for Stagecoach, admitted the bus had damaged Peters' car, but said the driver could not stop because of road works.
