French coach crash prompts safety calls
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• Last weekend's coach crash near Paris has prompted calls for a tightening up of safety measures.
Transport secretary Cecil Parkinson is set to urge coach operators to introduce speed limiters on older vehicles and to fit seatbelts. He is critical of European Conunission delays in formulating common standards for coach design and equipment.
But EC Transport Commissioner Karel Van Miert hit back by criticising Britain's refusal to adopt European coach speed limits.
The Transport and General Workers' Union has demanded legislation to improve safety standards for both passengers and transport workers. "Cutthroat competition between coach companies has produced impossible schedules, which can often only be met by reckless speeding whenever condi tions are less than ideal," says Graham Stevenson, the TGWU national secretary for road passenger transport.
Department of Transport officials are investigating the accident, which killed 11 British holiday makers and injured 18 others.
The coach was owned by Montego European Travel of Leek, Staffs.