Ban for bus driver ver who killed OAP in zebra crossing crash
ABUS driver who killed a community-spirited pensioner at a zebra crossing has been banned from driving for 12 months.
Margaret Wright, 76, suffered fatal injuries after being struck by the singledecker Volvo bus on Rochdale Road in Bacup on July 12 last year.
Experienced bus driver Francis Brown, 61, of Haslingden Road, Rawtenstall, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at a previous hearing.
The court heard that it was a momentary inattention and that he would never get over it.
The court heard Ms Wright died as she walked to a health centre to deliver cakes.
Prosecutor Carl Gaffney told Blackburn Magistrates Court that the Bacup Bowling Club treasurer was a ‘remarkable woman’ and had a ‘life well lived for the benefit of others’.
District Judge James Clarke sentenced Brown to a 12-month community order with 160 hours unpaid work and he was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Mr Gaffney told the court that the weather conditions on July 12 were ‘hot, dry and clear and with excellent visibility’.
The court heard how she waited at the zebra crossing for oncoming traffic to stop and when she stepped onto the crossing she was struck by the bus driven by Brown.
Mr Gaffney said he was a ‘professional driver experienced in both the role, route and vehicle’ and had ‘no medical, eye sight or mechanical issues’.
In a victim personal statement read out at court from Mrs Wright’s friends, they described her as a ‘kind and giving person who asked nothing in return except for friendship’.
The court was told she ‘put her heart and soul’ into her role at Bacup Bowling Club and that residents and neighbours will ‘truly miss her kindness, light-heartedness and generosity’.
Mr Gaffney said: “She died in circumstances where she lived her life doing something for somebody else.
That’s what she would like to be remembered for, doing something positive for the community.”
District Judge James Clarke said it was a ‘very moving statement’ and that ‘no sentence will compensate those who have lost Mrs Wright’.
He said: “It’s very clear this was a tragic loss of a valuable and valued lady who touched the lives of many people.”