Hero coach driver sacrificed himself to save passengers

A BUS driver died in a “complete inferno” after deciding to drive straight into boulders on a narrow mountain road in order to save his passengers, a coroner’s court in Berwick was told.

Maurice Wrightson, 63, from Ashington, Northumberland, had been descending the D211 road from French ski resort Alpe d’huez with a coach full of British resort staff on April 16 2013.

As he approached the road’s 21st hairpin the bus’s brakes failed and he decided to smash into the mountainside rather than attempt to take the bend. Flames quickly engulfed the coach as passengers tried to escape through its broken windows, and one woman was set on fire. Four passengers were seriously injured.

The inquest heard that French investigators had concluded that Mr Wrightson had “undoubtedly prevented” the more serious consequences of the vehicle leaving the road.