Bristol crocodile: Bus driver says he 'knows what he saw'

Jolyon Rea is adamant. "I know what I saw."

Back in 2014, the possibility a crocodile was roaming the River Avon was front-page news in Bristol - and it all started with Mr Rea, a bus driver.

From his initial report came a police investigation, national media interest and now a short film.

Created by film student Lucy Rowe, it is a light-hearted look back at a time when rumours of a sharp-toothed visitor took over the city.

The number 90 bus runs south to north in Bristol, crossing Bedminster Bridge as it nears the city centre.

It was here, where the River Avon runs through the city's heart, that Mr Rea says he saw a crocodile on a winter's day in February 2014.

Jolyon Rea says he saw the crocodile close to Bedminster Bridge

"I'd been parked up on the side of the road for more than five minutes. I looked down at the river and saw the crocodile coming across," he said.

"I didn't realise it was a crocodile at first until I had actually watched it, and when it came across at an angle, and it was moving side-to-side. Its head was underwater and I couldn't see a tail, just its back sections.

"Then it came right underneath me. After watching it for the length of time I did, I realised I needed to report it to the authorities, to let them deal with it.

"It's something you can't just ignore and walk away from."

He said the sighting of the "quite sizeable" crocodile made his hair "stand up on end".

He carried on his bus journey until he saw a police officer on Ashley Down Road in the north of the city, and passed on what he had seen.

Police officers investigated, but could not find the creature.

'Logs don't wiggle'

Since then, various experts have had their say over the years as to why a crocodile could not survive in the Avon, and plenty of people have told Mr Rea he saw a log.

"Logs don't swim. Logs don't wiggle," he said.

"And the river was flowing out towards the sea at that time, whereas this was going the other way, against the current."

He says not long after his sighting, police officers who crossed his path while out on the beat told him they had found crocodiles in houses used by drug dealers. When the animals got too big, they got released into the river, they told him.

"I felt quite validated by that," said Mr Rea. "I've had some teasing over the years, but you get used to that. There's a bit of banter in bus driving," he added.

Crocodile warning signs appeared close to the River Avon at the time of the rumoured sightings

He was not the only person who claimed to have seen the crocodile in 2014.

Further reported sightings, in Eastville Park, at Clevedon and in the city's harbour, took the story of the crocodile from Bedminster to the pages of national newspapers and beyond.

Bristol reacted with a collective chuckle. A Bristol Crocodile account appeared on Twitter (now called X), and a piece of street art showing the then mayor of Bristol - George Ferguson - being eaten by the beast was created.

Crocodile warning signs even appeared close to the riverbank.

The crocodile popped up on social media in 2014

And now, Lucy Rowe, a second-year film student at creative education company Boomsatsuma, has made a film about the sighting, which had its premiere at the Curzon Cinema in Clevedon.

A Bristolian herself, she said the "joyful" project - called The Bristol Crocodile Short Film - was inspired by the "spirit of Bristol" and how the city reacted to the rumours.

"It might sound silly, but why wouldn't you want to believe in something like this?" she said.

"Its a good Bristol urban myth, I think.

"I love to believe in it. Every time I'm by the river or the harbour, I can't help but look in, hoping I'm going to see it there," Ms Rowe added.

She said the film was a "love letter to my home town".

"I think it showcases the Bristolian spirit," she added.

'You never know'

Mr Rea is still driving buses in Bristol. He has never met the other people who claimed to have seen the crocodile, but has read about them in the press.

"The second person was an accountant. I was so pleased when I read that - I thought, 'I'm not crazy'.

"Then a young lady saw it when she was jogging under the [Clifton Suspension] Bridge.

"Some people might think it's a joke, but it's not. If you see something like that, something unpleasant, and you report it - if it attacks someone, at least you reported it."

Even now, he keeps an eye on the river whenever he crosses it.

"I always look in, just in case. You never know."