The ‘No Blame’ Culture Reaches Ridiculous Proportions…

Coach driver Colin Scott, 52, ‘lost his mind’ after children in the street jeered at him, calling him a ‘fat b******’, making V-signs at him, and shouting: ‘How fat is your wife?’

He began swerving his vehicle at them to try to frighten them off.

Yikes! Just what you want the man driving a multi-ton vehicle to do!

But his final swerve was too violent and he lost control of the bus, causing a six car pile-up and demolishing buildings.

His passengers weren’t too impressed, as you can imagine:

In a statement read at Croydon Crown Court, John Lewis employee Nick Henderson said: ‘He only stopped when a road sign came through the windscreen.

‘He had snapped and lost his mind. He was blaming everyone but himself, but I blame him.’

Well, yes, indeed! Unfortunately, as far as the court was concerned, that clearly doesn’t appear to be the case…

Scott, of Reading, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on Carshalton High Street, Sutton, South London, on August 27, 2010.

He was disqualified from driving for three years, ordered to pay costs of £500 and to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

That’s it? That’s all?

And, as they say, there’s more:

A bus driver who tore the roof off his vehicle after he crashed into a low bridge while carrying dozens of students has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Driver Trevor Wilson ignored panicked shouts from students and missed four warning signs before the doubledecker Compass Royston bus ploughed into the bridge in Neasham Road, Darlington, on September 22, last year.

This one was more serious for the passengers, though there was no element of ‘provocation’ – twelve of them were hospitalised.

Wilson, 51, of Wellington Walk, Stockton, appeared before Darlington Magistrates’ Court, yesterday, for sentencing after pleading guilty to dangerous driving earlier this month.

Magistrates sentenced him to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to complete 100 hours of work in the community.

He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

Oh, good grief! That’s all?

Simon Walker, mitigating, said Wilson’s life had been devastated by the incident, which had left him suffering flashbacks.

Mr Walker said: “It is not an overstatement to say the events have changed this man’s life forever.

“This has had a devastating effect on him on a number of levels. He has sought help from his GP. This was a one-off error, his first in 30 years. He has indicated that he will never drive a bus again.

“He has lost his good name, his job and, at least temporarily, his health.”

He deserves to lose his liberty, too. Incredibly, it seems yet again, some blame is considered to lie with others:

Mr Walker referred to concerns raised by a relative of one of the students involved, who said a single-decker bus had had a narrow escape at the same bridge the day before the collision.

He said: “The woman seemed surprised that Compass Royston had not been blamed for this incident.

There had been alarm the previous day when the bus went under the bridge. That incident was not brought to Mr Wilson’s notice.”

And why would that have had an effect, when he missed all the road signs and the shouts of his passengers?

How is it the company’s fault if their – presumably previously unblemished - license holders seem unable to remember that they shouldn’t go down routes their vehicles aren’t capable of traversing correctly?

Magistrates said Wilson’s remorse and the fact that Compass Royston changed the vehicle were mitigating factors that meant his sentence could be suspended.

Yes, the fact that he normally drives a single-decker and the company had asked him that morning to drive a double-decker apparently means that they are partly to blame…

You really couldn’t make it up!