Bus driver jailed for crash death

Anita Quartly died at the scene of the crash

A Polish bus driver who caused a road crash in Devon in which a teenage girl died has been jailed for two years.

Robert Botur, 35, hit a car as he drove on the wrong side of the A377 near Lapford in January, killing passenger Anita Quartly, 17, from Chawleigh.

Passing sentence at Exeter Crown Court the judge said Anita's family may find the sentence "derisory", but he had to sentence according to the facts.

Botur, of Tipton, had already admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

You breached the trust your passengers, particularly Anita Quartly, had placed in you Judge John Neligan

Anita was a passenger on the 30-seat coach when it was involved in the collision with a car between Lapford and Copplestone.

The court heard that Botur, driving a bus unsupervised for the first time since being recruited from Poland, travelled for about 500 metres on the wrong side of the road before he hit an oncoming car.

Anita was among a handful of passengers on the bus which went through a hedge, rolled on to its offside and dropped two and a half metres (8.2ft) into a field. She died at the scene.

Botur, who was uninjured in the crash, was also banned from driving for four years, and ordered to take an extended test before driving in this country again.

After the case Anita's parents, Dawn and Mark Quartly, from Chulmleigh, who described Anita, a student, as the family "star", said: "We are disgusted with the leniency of the sentence.

"How can the taking of our daughter's life equate to this inadequately short term of imprisonment?

"We consider there needs to be more stringent legislation to regulate and enforce the required standards of driving, and especially the drivers of public service vehicles within the UK."

They said the family - 14 members of whom were in court - had been "irreversibly torn apart" by the death of music-loving Anita, seven of whose Exeter College friends were at the hearing.

Botur, who told police he had tried to take evasive action but had been blinded by headlights, could not accept he was driving on the wrong side of the road, said prosecutor Richard Crabb.

'Genuine remorse'

Defence counsel Simon Morgan said there was nothing which drew his attention to the error he had made, adding that as a family man he could not imagine what it must be like for Anita's family.

Botur said he would not drive again, and was now working as a valet for a bus company.

Judge John Neligan said Botur had "owed a duty of care to ensure paying passengers would be carried safely", and because of they way he drove they were not.

"You breached the trust your passengers, particularly Anita Quartly, had placed in you," said the judge, who accepted Botur's genuine remorse.