A school bus driver has been jailed for three years for crashing a double-decker into a railway bridge, injuring 41 children, three of them seriously.
Prosecutor Nicholas Cotter told the court that Walker, who was a Stagecoach employee, had been driving the route for the first time when he had taken a wrong turn without realising.
This was a low-speed accident - the bus kept going forward at 10mph while the children screamed and the roof peeled back. Why would an experienced bus driver keep driving, in these circumstances?
Defence lawyer Neil Fitzgibbon said Walker had learning difficulties and dyslexia but had been a "careful and diligent driver" until this crash.
He said Walker had only been given a "partial familiarisation" trip on the route by his supervisors at Stagecoach and should have been given more training because of his learning disabilities.Why would you hire a learning disabled dyslexic to drive schoolchildren? Is ticking a diversity box more important to Stagecoach than passenger safety?
"Why would you hire a learning disabled dyslexic to drive schoolchildren?"
ReplyDeleteWhy would you hire a learning disabled dyslexic to drive a bus? Hire him, yes, but put him somewhere where he can't do much damage.
ReplyDelete"Why would you hire a learning disabled dyslexic to drive schoolchildren?"
Because, as has always been the case and regardless of the responsibility, bus drivers are to be bought as cheaply as possible and discarded as suits your needs . . .
"Hire him, yes, but put him somewhere where he can't do much damage."
ReplyDeleteHe could draw up timetables, since they are a work of fiction anyway...
"...as has always been the case and regardless of the responsibility, bus drivers are to be bought as cheaply as possible and discarded as suits your needs . "
Which is why there will never be the reliance on public transport that the Greens demand...