A door falling off a passing minibus. It’s probably one of the last things you want to see hurtling towards you at speed.

But that’s exactly what happened to coach driver Barry McQuillen on the A19.

McQuillen, from Billingham in Teesside, had the nasty scare while driving a Croft Coaches bus with 50 students from nearby Middlesbrough College on board, with his dashcam capturing the moment the Transit’s sliding passenger door flew off the Royal Cars private-hire minibus.

McQuillen wasn’t able to avoid the door totally, running over its inner skin, but he skilfully avoided significant damage and there were no injuries either, fortunately.

According to a spokesperson for Royal Cars, the minibus had passed a six-monthly MOT at the end of May and there were no fears about its roadworthiness.

To add to the calamity, this old stretch of road over the Tees near Stockton has no hard shoulder, as it forms part of a busy interchange between the A66 and A19, so neither the coach nor the minibus was able to pull over. The incident was reported to Cleveland Police – made famous in the Channel Five TV series Police Interceptors – as soon as was possible.

Royal Cars has contacted Ford, as it believes the sudden failure was caused by a manufacturing defect.

You can watch the video below:

A lucky escape indeed…