General Chat

A bus driver in Winchester has been jailed for 3 years after trying to drive his 13’11” bus under a 12’ bridge when he took a wrong turn. The bus was carrying 78 school children between 11 and 16 and 41 were injured, 3 seriously.

The physical and emotional scars don’t bear thinking about. Several of the children suffered nerve damage to the face and the emotional trauma will be horrendous. :-(

Lorry drivers are always trying to demolish bridges in my area.
It seems to be the done thing
Should have gone to .....

This happened near to where I now live.

According to the local rag:

""The day of the collision was the first occasion that this defendant had ridden the school route."

The court was told that Walker, of Hood Road, Southampton, was only partially shown the route and was not driving during the training.

Mitigating, Neil Fitrzgibbon said that his client suffers from "poor planning, confusion of left and right, and needs constantly reminded of basic elements of his job".

He continued: "The defendant was unaware he missed his turning as a consequence believing he was on the correct route... he wrongly assumed that he would fit under the bridge."

I want to know how, when he has "poor planning, confusion of left and right, and needs constantly reminded of basic elements of his job", he even became a bus driver!

:-0 Shouldn't his employer be doing time as well?

Definitely! It's 'Stagecoach' buses

I've got to catch a bus tomorrow, it goes around the 'Worthy's" - 4 villages close together on the outskirts of Winchester - Headbourne Worthy - where the accident happened, Kings Worthy, Abbotts Worthy, and Martyr Worthy.
Have to admit, since moving here, I'm wary of the route the bus takes.

I remember that accident, horrendous. But, as Maggie has said, how ever did he get a job as a driver of any sort let alone a bus driver. and, why was he not trained when actually driving. I have been on buses when the driver has somebody with him monitoring him (Stage coach). I can only assume it was a shortage of drivers and he was the only option. It still should not have happened, he was not trained enough to have the responsibility of all those children. The mitigation alone shows that. Either the person who trained him and 'passed' him fit to drive a bus or the person who put him in charge of a school bus, should face charges of some sort. I should think the accident and consequences and the prison sentence are more than enough punishment for him. It must be so hard to live with that knowledge. Just one wrong turning.

I wonder if there will now follow claims against Stagecoach for the injuries?

I was on a bus in Glasgow when I was 16 and a firework was thrown on the bus. It landed under the seat my friend was but thankfully didn’t go off. That was more than 20 years ago and I’ve never forgotten it. I hope the mental as well as the physical health of these children is taken care of as what happened to them is 20,000 times worse than what happened to me.

Tawny, of the three secondary schools in Winchester, the children in the accident went to what I would describe as the most 'humanitarian' school. No tie - just polo shirts and sweaitshirts.
It was the only one I didnt work at, but, where I used to live, I'd regularly meet, at the bus stop, a boy who went there, who was obviously late for school, and not wearing the uniform. We'd discuss his lateness and lack of uniform - he was a lovely boy, but destined for trouble - and he knew it.
All that happened to him was a detention, even he admitted it was humanitarian!
I made him look the word up!
Once a LSA - always a LSA!
I do feel for him, though.