Lorry driver jailed for bus horror crash

A lorry driver has been jailed after a poorly secured six-ton vintage steam engine fell from his truck and smashed into a crowded bus.

Five passengers and the bus driver suffered serious injuries in the incident on a narrow country road.

lorry driver Philip last, 53, was jailed for 18 months after he admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He had used canvas straps ‘as a shortcut’ instead of chains to secure the 1920s engine to his low loader after a steam rally, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

As he drove through West Mersea, Essex, in September 2015 he braked hard to avoid the single decker bus. one strap snapped and the steam engine toppled on to the bus, crushing the driver Michael Birch, who suffered injuries including a punctured lung and fractured hip.

Five of the 34 passengers also suffered serious injuries. Peter Gair, prosecuting, said: ‘As soon as the load was fixed, this was an accident waiting to happen.’

Harry Warner, defending, said last, of Great yarmouth, Norfolk, ‘has shown genuine remorse and is horrified that his actions led to the injuries they did’. Judge David Goodin also banned last from driving for 21 months, telling the father of two: ‘your gross carelessness and negligence had grave consequences. you took a shortcut. you knew it was a shortcut.’