Crash coach driver 'nodded off'

Crash coach driver 'nodded off'

Six people died in the crash

Survivors of a coach crash on the M25 which killed six people have told an inquest the driver was "nodding off" at the wheel.

Aylesbury Coroner's Court heard on Wednesday the driver of the coach, Chris Sloane, who died in the smash, was driving erratically in the moments before the crash.

The vehicle, returning to Evesham, Worcestershire, then veered sharply to the right, back to the left, and plunged down a steep embankment.

The coach left the motorway between junctions 15 and 16, rolling down the embankment and skidding 50 metres before coming to rest in a field near Slough, Berkshire, last November.

I said 'I feel he is falling asleep' and that is the last thing I remember

Passenger Lynne Amphlatt

Passenger Lynne Amphlatt, from Pershore, told the inquest she thought Mr Sloane had nodded off.

"I went up to ask him to close the window and I felt his head had gone down a couple of times.

"I said 'I feel he is falling asleep' and that is the last thing I remember."

Mrs Amphlatt who travelled on the coach with her husband Tony, said they had considered getting off the coach before it set off from Evesham because of their lack of confidence in Mr Sloane.

She claimed that on a previous trip to Ireland, Mr Sloane had had two minor accidents.

Mrs Amphlatt agreed with the coroner when he said that Mr Sloane had been "nodding off" on the journey back from Dover.

Driving fast

She said Mr Sloane, 42, seemed to be driving very fast.

Another passenger Janet Field said the coach had come very close to a lorry when overtaking it.

"When the accident happened it felt like someone had grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it down on the right.

"Before it tipped over I didn't feel any braking."

Ceased trading

WR Spring and Son, the coach company involved, which had been based in Evesham for 40 years, has ceased trading since the accident.

The founder's son, Graham Spring, 56, his co-driver Christopher Sloane, 42, and Mr Sloane's wife, Karen, were killed.

Bernard Coppin, 62, of Drake's Broughton, Norma Evans, 54, of Badsey, and Jane Margaret Wedgbury, 39, of Alcester, Warwickshire, also died in the crash.

A further 40 people were injured in the crash on 16 November 2002.

The passengers were returning from a day trip to hypermarkets in Boulogne, France.

Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett said the hearing, expected to last up to three days, was effectively six inquests being held at once.