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Bonnyrnan careless

22nd November 1986
Page 20
Page 20, 22nd November 1986 — Bonnyrnan careless
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The driver of the Eastern Scottish coach which crashed into a traffic queue on the M6 in October last year, killing 13 people and injuring 42 others was acquitted this week of reckless driving.

John Bonnyman, 63, of Milton Place in Edinburgh was, however, found guilty of driving without due care and attention and was fined 2200 and disqualified from driving for three years.

It took the jury at Preston Crown Court 31/2 hours to decide on the verdict, by a majority of 10 to two.

The court had heard how the Eastern Scottish Coach, travelling south on the M6 on a scheduled journey between Edinburgh and London, ran into the back of a queue of vehicles at roadworks at Bar ton, a few miles north of Preston.

William Waldorf QC, prosecuting, told the court that the coach hit the first car, a Ford Fiesta, "with great violence" at a speed of 97km/h (60mph) or more, knocking the vehicle out of its path and into the nearside where it burst into flames.

The coach continued, hitting other vehicles before it reared up, trapping two cars beneath it. 14 or 15 vehicles were involved in the crash, of which 11 were destroyed.

Yvonne Bowker, of Balmoral Drive, Stockport, who was travelling as a passenger in her husband's car behind the coach, told the court: "He was two coach lengths away from the cars in front before he braked. It was more or less as he touched the cars that his lights went on."

Bonnyman, who was badly burned in the crash, was interviewed in hospital by police ten days after the accident. He told them: "I saw something wrong in my nearside mirror. I was braking then, but its all so confusing. I couldn't get it to stop, that's all."

Liverpool lorry driver, Jim Smith, was praised by the court for his bravery at the scene of the accident. He ran from the opposite carriageway and dragged Bormyman from the burning coach.

Three weeks after the crash the Department of Transport issued new guidelines to improve the standard of roadwork warning signs. Inspector Malcolm Herbert told the court that the signs in operation that day on the M6 were within the rules as they then existed.

Witnesses have criticised the warning signs at the scene. Optician Gillian McAverty of Hampshire, said in a written statement: "There was not enough notice to drivers on a busy motorway that there was danger." Three other accidents had occurred on the same stretch of road earlier that day.

Flashback to last year's

mach accident.


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