Death crash bus driver who hid sight problems is jailed
Prison sentence in first case since Glasgow bin lorry prosecution bid
A BUS driver who knocked down and killed a great-grandfather after failing to tell his employers and the DVLA about his vision problems has been jailed for 12 months.
It is believed to be the first prison sentence handed out for such an omission since relatives of three of the six killed in the 2014 Glasgow bin lorry crash were told by judges last November they could not launch a private prosecution against driver Harry Clarke.
A subsequent fatal accident inquiry heard Clarke had a history of health issues but had not disclosed his medical background to his employers or the DVLA.
It has now emerged that Stephen Thompson, 49, of no fixed abode, received a prison sentence after being told he had shown a “cavalier attitude” to the road by failing to disclose his illness.
He had been driving a doubledecker bus in Civic Square, Tilbury, Essex, on August 2015 when he struck 82-year-old Derek Coleman, who died from his injuries.
Thompson failed to disclose to his employers and the DVLA he was suffering with Type 2 diabetes and had problems with his vision.
He admitted causing death by careless driving and one count of fraud by false representation relating to the information that he failed to disclose to his employer between 2010 and 2015, Essex Police said.
The force has revealed that on Friday Thompson was jailed for one year and banned from driving for three-and-a-half years at Basildon Crown Court.
Judge John Lodge said Thompson did not see Mr Coleman due to a blind spot on the vehicle and that he ought to have known the view available and the risk of pedestrians.
He said the blind spot was the cause of the accident but his health was an aggravating factor.
Investigating officer Steve Catton, of Essex Police, said Thompson “repeatedly showed disregard for the safety of himself and other road users” by failing to disclose his diabetes and vision problems to his employers.
He said: “While these health issues were not the cause of the collision, they were an aggravating factor and Thompson ignored the requirements placed upon him as a driver. He continued to drive a public bus on a daily basis regardless of his health.”
The case comes as Clarke, 60, is facing a possible jail sentence after he admitted culpable and reckless driving just nine months after the bin lorry crash tragedy.
He pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this month to driving a car in the city on September 20, 2015 to the danger of the public, despite having lost his licence for medical reasons in the months that followed the Glasgow bin lorry crash.
It was revoked after the fatal accident inquiry into the 2014 crash, when he blacked out and his refuse lorry careered across George Square.
He admitted the 2015 offence of driving a car in the knowledge that he had suffered a loss of consciousness while at the wheel of a moving refuse collection vehicle the previous December.
Clarke was not prosecuted over the bin lorry crash after the Crown Office said there was insufficient evidence to raise criminal proceedings.