Driver of coach dies at the wheel

The coach driver died at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford

A coach driver died at the wheel while driving a group of American tourists to France to visit the Normandy beaches.

The man collapsed and died at about 0800 BST on Monday near Canterbury and is thought to have had a heart attack.

Passengers on the coach said the driver, a man in his early 50s from Whitstable in Kent, had complained about pains in his chest while driving.

They told police he pulled over into a pub car park off the B2068 at Stone Street before collapsing.

The man, who has not been named, was taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Local resident Maureen Tomison, who helped raise the alarm, told the BBC: "I think he behaved very courageously, he managed to park before dying.

"It's really scary to think only a few minutes later the bus would have been on the motorway and everyone's life would have been at stake."