Working in my shed today, on GKE68, the Chatham & District Bristol K5gG, I was visited by one of the East Kent enthusiasts who rents a space in the same place for his Reliance.

He wanted to start it as it hasn't run for a while. It turned but wouldn't start, so he wandered down and asked to use my boost pack. no problem, we chatted for a while, went along with the boost pack. I went to put the clips on his batteries and noticed they were smoking quite badly. We straight away turned the isolator off; I felt the nearest battery to me which was VERY hot1

We retreated a safe distance to wait for things to cool down and for any fumes to disperse. A while later he gingerly disconnected the batteries and took them outside.

I suspect the starter had jammed in and this had caused either a short circuit or drained the batteries.

Luckily no harm was done except maybe to his batteries. I dread to think what could have happened as there's 18 buses in that shed as well as my workshop equipment and spares. So, if your bus won't start, make sure the starter isn't jammed in before you leave it, and turn the isolator off!

Good advice from Roy.

I regularly have to give my buses a charge/boost to get them started particularly in this cold weather, I have one simple rule that I NEVER leave the batteries unattended while connected to the booster,

You only have to do a history search on these forums to read some battery related horror stories.

My bus number (if any): RM765 and RM548