Smash coach 'was speeding'
A holiday coach which careered off a French motorway in 1990, killing 11 people, including six from Shropshire, had been travelling well over the speed limit on under-inflated tyres, an inquest heard today. A holiday coach which careered off a French motorway in 1990, killing 11 people, including six from Shropshire, had been travelling well over the speed limit on under-inflated tyres, an inquest heard today. The tachograph revealed driver John Johnston had regularly reached more than 76mph in the half hour before the smash. Yet the speed limit was 56mph. The driver had been rushing to catch a ferry to enable holidaymakers to get back to work the next day, the inquest heard. The inquest continues. Read the full story in the Shropshire Star
And the coach had hit 78mph at the moment that a front tyre burst, said accident investigator Constable Steven Parker.
The coach flipped over, smashed into concrete posts and skidded along on its side, with passengers flung out of the windows.
The driver had been rushing to catch a ferry to enable holidaymakers to get back to work the next day, the inquest heard.
Constable Parker was giving evidence today to Telford & Wrekin coroner Mr Michael Gwynne at the Park Inn, Telford.
Mr Gwynne had been unable to hold an inquest until today because the case had been bogged down by civil and criminal proceedings in French courts.
Hire
The double-decker coach had been on hire to Dawley-based Pineda Holidays, set up by Ray Cash in 1988.
It had been on its way back from the Costa Brava when the accident happened at 8am on June 3, 1990, on the A6 motorway, 80 miles south east of Paris. Eleven holidaymakers were killed and 64 were injured.
Constable Parker said the tachograph showed the vehicle had been under "constant acceleration" in the final three miles, finally reaching 123kph (77-78mph). Constable Parker said all the coach's tyres had been under-inflated which would have made them more likely to overheat, and the drivers had admitted failing to check the pressures.
Constable Parker replied: "I believe it was due to the fast driving of the vehicle."
The corner said: "Mr Johnston was clearly driving too fast with under-inflated tyres. He loses control and, from the manner in which he was driving, 11 people died." Johnston, of Stoke-on-Trent, was given a 30-month suspended jail sentence in 2003 for involuntary manslaughter by a French court. He died this summer. The hearing continues.
The six Telford victims were:
Ronnie James, 30, of Hilton Close, Stirchley Park; Christine Ann Yates, 46, of Singleton, Sutton Hill; Teresa Sanders, 18, of Ryton Way, Stirchley; Kathleen Jones, 50, of Shelley Drive, Sutton Heights; Christopher Trevor Acton Ware, 10, of Harrington Heath, Shawbirch; Phyllis Maud Biddulph, 67, of Mossclay Road, St Georges.
The other five people who died were:
Thomas Albert Orme, 60, and his wife Irene Jean Orme, 60, of Bushbury Lane, Wolverhampton; George Charles Evans, 65, and his wife Joan, 60, of Milldale Crescent, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton; and Michael Reynolds, 45, of Princess Road, Oldbury, West Midlands.
By Peter Johnson