Market Street was absolute carnage this evening around half 4 following a broken-down Yutong E10 operating Service 53 at the bus stop outside the Theatre Royal.

Behind it were another E10 on the 53 and two E12s on the Q3/Q3X, which quickly led to gridlock. The driver of 5809, which was unable to turn left, refused to move, resulting in an argument with the driver of the 54, as our bus was completely blocked in and it was unsafe to attempt to go around.

Eventually, after not only myself but several other passengers got off the 54 to voice their frustration, the Q3/Q3X driver agreed to move. Realistically, all that was required was to continue along Market Street, divert via the Bigg Market, and then rejoin the normal route. Instead, around 20–25 minutes passed before any movement was made.

I overheard the driver speaking to Control and saying that he would only move if the two buses trapped behind the broken-down E10 were reversed out of Grey Street and back onto Market Street to avoid further delays to those services. That was probably the only sensible suggestion made during the whole incident.

From a passenger's perspective, the situation appeared to be made worse by an unwillingness to take a straightforward diversion when one was clearly available, leaving multiple buses and dozens of passengers delayed unnecessarily.