Driver charged over bicycle death

Emilie Harris died in the crash on Cowley Road in May 2004

A bus driver is being charged with careless driving over the death of a university student.

Emilie Harris, 20, of Shawford, Hampshire, died instantly when she fell off her bicycle in the path of the bus in Cowley Road, Oxford, in May 2004.

An inquest into her death heard how driver Paul Willis, 47, was chatting to a fellow passenger at the time.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded and police said proceedings against Mr Willis would now resume.

The inquest at Oxford's Old Assizes heard how passengers witnessed Mr Willis, a driver for Oxford Bus Company, talking to fellow bus driver Henry Stuart, moments before the crash on 26 May, 2004.

Passenger charged

Coroner Richard Whittington said: "Whether Mr Stuart actually obstructed the vision forward is unlikely but his presence there must have been a distraction."

Accident investigators calculated that Ms Harris, a human sciences student at St Catherine's College, had been cycling 8mph (12.8kph) while the bus had been going at a speed just above 20mph (32kph) and catching her up.

Investigator Stephen Moffat said Mr Willis should have slowed down to the same speed as the cyclist because the road ahead narrowed.

After the inquest police said that Mr Willis was being charged with careless driving and breaching public service vehicle regulations.

Mr Stuart also faces the latter charge, police said.