Runaway bus costs LT bus Midland Red £115 switch to
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• After pleading guilty to summonses concerning a defective braking system and a defective tyre on a double-deck bus which ran backwards in Birmingham Street, Dudley, Worcestershire, on September 21 and killed two people, Midland Red was fined a total of £100 with 15 costs on January 24. Dudley magistrates were told that the company had previous convictions for defective brakes and tyres dating back to 1964.
Mr P. Shaw, prosecuting for the police, said the bus was parked at the Birmingham Street bus station on a steep hill. The driver put on his handbrake and left the vehicle. Usual procedure was to put a scotch under the back wheel but this was not done and there was not one on the bus. The conductor had also got off to change the destination sign at the front when the bus started to roll down the hill backwards. The conductor ran alongside and pulled at the handbrake but it was already firmly on and he could do nothing.
The bus crossed the central reservation of the dual carriageway and a number of the passengers on board started to jump off. One elderly lady fell under the bus and was killed. The passengers who remained on the bus were not injured. A father who was walking with his two daughters on the opposite side of the road grabbed them and ran back up the hill as he saw the bus approaching but it changed direction and although he was able to push one child out of the way he and the other were pinned against a wall and the child was killed.
When the bus was examined two days later it was found that a bolt was missing from the handbrake and a spring had become dislodged. Routine examination of the tyres showed that one on the inner nearside had cord showing through the rubber in two places. A note had already been passed to the firm dealing with tyre changes but a breakdown in communication between them and Midland Red had resulted in it not being changed.
Mr C. Hodson, for Midland Red, submitted that tests carried out by the DoE showed the bus brakes were twice as effective as the minimum laid down by the regulations.
Mr R. Braithwaite, Midland Red chief engineer (Midland region), said that when he took over two years ago he introduced new safety checks and servicing based on fuel consumption rather than mileage to ensure the most used buses were examined more frequently. Safety checks were carried out about every three weeks and drivers filled in daily defect sheets.
In his opinion it could have been possible that the extra weight of the passengers getting on the bus after the driver had left it had affected the holding power of the brake.