A grim warning to all bus and coach drivers, and in fact to any driver who is running late and wants to make up time.
From the BBC website.
A National Express coach driver has pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of three passengers by dangerous driving in a crash near Heathrow Airport.
Philip Rooney, from Lanarkshire, was driving the London-to-Aberdeen service when it overturned on the M4/M25 slip road in January 2007.
Mr Rooney, 48, pleaded guilty to three counts when he appeared at the Old Bailey.
He was released on bail until 24 November when he will be sentenced.
Two people died soon after the crash and a third died six months later.
Christina Toner, 76, from Dundee, and Yi Di Lin, 30, a Chinese national, died in the crash while John Carruthers, 78, of Chertsey, Surrey died in hospital on 1 July.
The accident involved a Neoplan Skyliner operated by Trathens Coaches.
Following the incident, National Express immediately suspended use of the 12 double-decker coaches operating on its network.
No safety problems were found with the coaches which were reinstated five months later.
Rooney will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court.
Original item from the BBC 04 Jan 2007
5 comments:
Its disgusting how long cases can take getting to court. It's the same here. - Dave
Dave - you state he was "running late and wanting to make up time"
Indeed your comment is valid if that is the case but how do you know it was please?
Reading the BBC report, I can only imagine that, maybe, he was trying to catch up with the other coach. Having said that, there is no excuse, although I wonder if seatbelts were used and if so, would the outcome have been the same?
The coach was running (about 15 minutes?????) late at the time of the accident, I remember it being reported at the time.
No idea if the driver was speeding though.
I always feel sorry for the victims of cases like this. Not only the passengers, but the driver too, who was presumably just trying to do his job, but made a misjudgement. People who deliberately hurt or kill, well that is different.
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