DON’T DRIVE WHEN YOU’RE TIRED
BOSSES’ WARNING TO OAP DEATH CRASH BUS DRIVER WHO WORKED 75-HOUR WEEKS, COURT TOLD
A JURY yesterday watched the horrific moment a double-decker bus careered along a Coventry city centre street and smashed in to a supermarket, leaving two people dead.
The CCTV footage shows the moment the bus veered onto a grass verge in Hales Street and then crashed into the outside wall of Sainsbury’s, in Trinity Street.
Prosecutors say it shows that driver Kailash Chander was driving dangerously.
They also stated that the now 80-year-old had been involved in four other crashes while at the wheel of a bus in the three previous years. Chander, a former mayor of Leamington, was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
The two who died in the crash in October 2015 were seven-year-old Rowan Fitzgerald from Leamington and Dora Hancox, 76, from Nuneaton.
He also charged with two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
However, he has been deemed unfit to stand trial on medical grounds and a ‘finding of facts trial’ is now taking place at Birmingham Crown Court to determine if Chander carried out the acts of which he is accused.
The court heard that Chander worked for Midland Red for 45 years before retiring at the age of 65 in 2003.
He was immediately taken back on by the company as a ‘relief’ driver and in the year leading up to the fatal crash in October 2015, Chander had worked on average around 47 hours per week, the court heard.
But prosecutor Andrew Thomas said that “disguises” the true extent of his workload which was sometimes in excess of 50 or 60 hours per week
The prosecutor stated that Chander was aware that the standard of his driving had “deteriorated” and been “warned that he should be careful not to drive when he was tired”.
Mr Thomas told the court that Chander was involved in four collisions from 2012 onwards; in one his bus hit street furniture and in another he caused damage to the rear end of a car. The other two were collisions at bus depots.
It was also stated by Mr Thomas that there were complaints about Chander’s driving from members of the public, including about not sticking to timetable, ‘accelerating violently’ and ‘bus lurching forwards.’
It was also stated earlier in yesterday’s proceedings that Chander had worked more than 75 hours per week in each of the three weeks leading up to the Sainsbury’s crash.
Speaking of the day of the crash itself, Mr Thomas said that having just finished his secondment in Rugby on the Friday afternoon, Mr Chander went straight back to work out of the Leamington depot the next day.
Chander started working at 10.45am and swapped a shift meaning he was set to work until 10pm rather than 8.30pm.
Mr Thomas said Chander began the shift driving a single-decker bus but just before 5pm he took charge of a double-decker.
Chander’s bus arrived in Hales Street at 5.55pm, the jury is told by Mr Thomas, who added: “Because the bus was running late, the allocated stop for that bus was already occupied by a single-decker bus and he stopped behind it.
“He was stationary for about three-and-a-half minutes while passengers were getting on and off the bus.”
He stated that on the CCTV footage the bus’ brake lights “were not showing on the back of the bus” meaning that Chander must have been holding it in place with the handbrake alone.
“Mr Chander must have released the handbrake because suddenly the bus jerked forwards and began to accelerate sharply,” said Mr Thomas “Almost straight away, it collided with the rear corner of the bus in front. It clipped the corner of the bus and then carried on accelerating.”
Mr Thomas said the bus “accelerated to a dangerous speed” and “veered off the road onto a grass verge alongside, narrowly missing a number of pedestrians who had to run to get out of the way”.
As the bus rejoined the road, it was then that it struck pedestrian Dora Hancox, before ploughing in to Sainsbury’s.
After the jury watched CCTV of the collision, Mr Thomas explained that seven-year-old Rowan Fitzgerald was sitting on the front seat of the upper deck with his cousin Paige Wilson, aged eight. They were sat next to Alison Hu and Alex Rodin who were in the front seats on the opposite side.
Mr Thomas told the jury: “When the bus collided with the front of the store, the front of the bus struck the canopy so it came through the passenger compartment.“
Rowan was killed and Paige was seriously injured. Alex Rodin suffered serious injuries.
“Dora Hancox died as a result of multiple blunt injuries, in particular crushing injuries to the chest and upper abdomen.
“Rowan Fitzgerald died as a result of blunt head injuries. He would have been immediately rendered unconscious and effectively died on impact.”
Mr Thomas told the jury: “This case is not about what Mr Chander intended.
“The prosecution do not suggest that he intended to crash the bus, let alone to kill or injure anyone. You
may think it is clear from the CCTV footage that he drove the bus dangerously.
“There was a very careful examination of the bus afterwards by an experienced engineer. Obviously there was some damage to the bus as a result of the collision, but it was possible to identify that as fresh damage. The conclusion of the detailed engineer’s examination was that there was no pre-existing mechanical defect which is capable of explaining the accident.
“It was sloppy or lazy driving.”
The court heard that when spoken to after the collision, Chander said he “thought that the brakes must have failed”.
Mr Thomas stated: “The only conceivable explanation for what happened is that Mr Chander pressed his foot down believing his foot was on the brake, but in truth he was holding his foot down on the accelerator. The prosecution does not suggest that Mr Chander deliberately accelerated full-throttle away from the bus stop.
“The prosecution say that in the scale of driver errors nothing could be more obvious, and nothing could be more devastating, than putting your foot down on the accelerator pedal and accelerating over a prolonged period of time, when you are supposed to be braking.
The jury were also told yesterday that Midland Red have also been prosecuted in connection with the incident and the firm has pleaded guilty to offences contrary to the Health and Safety at Work & Act 1974.