Hero coach driver died saving his 51 passengers in Alps
A BRITISH coach driver sacrificed himself by driving into boulders next to a cliff when his brakes failed in the French Alps.
As the vehicle hurtled towards a hairpin bend with 51 passengers on board, Maurice Wrightson drove into rocks to try to save their lives, an inquest heard.
The driver, from Ashington in Northumberland, had been descending the precarious D211 road from the popular Alpe d’Huez ski resort with a coach full of returning British workers on April 16, 2013.
As he approached a sharp corner, the brakes stopped working and he made the split-second decision to ram his coach into the mountainside rather than attempt the bend.
The coach burst into flames on impact. Mr Wrightson, 63, was killed and four passengers were seriously injured.
French investigators concluded Mr Wrightson had ‘undoubtedly’ prevented more deaths by stopping the vehicle from leaving the road. At the time, French transport minister Frederic Cuvillier said: ‘The driver showed remarkable courage. The witnesses all agree that his acts and his attitude meant a much heavier loss of life was avoided.’
The coroner’s court in Berwickupon-Tweed, Northumberland, heard from co-driver Nathan Woodland, 39, who also worked for County Durham-based Classic Coaches.
Describing Mr Wrightson as ‘oldschool and a very good driver’, Mr Woodland said his colleague had not been fazed by the steep, winding road and had not been in a hurry.
But after going through a small chicane, he felt the bus twitch and realised something was wrong.
Mr Woodland said: ‘I could see the road all the way down to turn 21, the distance was about half a mile.
‘The gradient was not that steep compared to other bits, but suddenly Maurice looked at me with a very shocked look on his face. He said, “It’s not stopping us, it’s not stopping us”. I could tell immediately something was very wrong.’
He said Mr Wrightson began to grip the wheel very tightly and braced himself against his seat to apply more pressure to the brake.
‘The brakes were not stopping us,’ Mr Woodland said. ‘I stepped into the aisle and shouted, “Grab a hold – hold tight”.’
He then described how the coach smashed into the boulders and he was thrown several rows back. As he picked himself up, he saw passengers desperately trying to escape as the coach turned into a ‘complete inferno’.
He said: ‘There was a girl who had been sat behind the driver’s seat, her clothes were on fire. A man was trying to get her off the coach and douse the fire on her clothes at the same time.’
Passenger Catrin Pugh, 23, from Wrexham, suffered burns to 96 per cent of her body in the crash and spent three months in a coma.
Last year, Miss Pugh received a £1million-plus payout from the coach firm.
The inquest heard the French report concluded that the cause had been ‘the failing of the main brake, the pads of which had been completely destroyed by excessive heating’.
The hearing continues.