Driver jailed for bin lorry crash that killed girl of 14
Sentencing him to three years and four months, Judge Avik Mukherjee told him he had performed a “seriously dangerous manoeuvre [then] laid the blame at Mr Bagnall’s door, suggesting he himself had been speeding”.
Buck was also disqualified from driving for five years and eight months at Birmingham Crown Court.
Weeks before the fatal crash he had eight penalty points cleared from his licence for driving without due care and attention after failing to stop at an accident in 2014.
In court yesterday, Holly’s father Martin and mother Sari paid tribute to their “beautiful” daughter and said their lives had been left “broken, empty and incomplete”.
A victim impact statement by Holly’s twin sister Emma was read to the court. She described her sibling as the “half of me I’ll never be able to get back”.
She said: “We had a special bond only a twin could understand. I always knew she was going to do great things.”
Her emotional father added: “I still find it hard to accept my beautiful daughter is no longer with us.
“The hole the death has left in our lives is truly enormous. It is a much quieter house now. Gone are the giggles from the upstairs, of the children playing.” Buck The damaged school minibus that was hit by the bin lorry last year had been working as an agency driver for Birmingham City Council, driving a recycling route since January 2017, when the crash happened.
James Dunstan, prosecuting, said Holly was among 21 pupils from John Taylor High School in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffs, on a trip to Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
She and others aboard had all been wearing seat belts. Mr Dunstan said Mr Bagnall was travelling at 39mph on the 40mph dual carriageway, when the bin lorry pulled out from his right, hitting the side of the minibus. The force of the crash knocked it onto its near-side wheels but “mercifully” righted itself, without rolling.
Mr Dunstan said: “You can see from the coach’s CCTV, Mr Buck is pulling out from the right. It doesn’t stop, it simply continues as though Mr Bagnall’s vehicle was not there.”
Though no others suffered serious physical injuries, Mr Dunstan said two of Holly’s friends in the minibus suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.