Alpine tragedy school coach driver goes missing

The driver of a school coach which plunged down an Alpine ravine killing three teenagers has gone missing, police said yesterday.

Jim Shaw, 43, injured in the crash in France in which pupils from a Bolton school died, was said to be unable to cope with the tragedy which killed Nicola Moore, 15, and 14-year-olds Keith Ridding and Robert Boardman. Mr Shaw, who was allowed home to Manchester after questioning by French police, was understood to have telephoned friends and family saying he was 200 miles away. His disappearance comes just days after children from St James's School, Farnworth, wrote and told him he should not blame himself.

The classmates of Nicola Moore, 15, and 14-year-olds Keith Ridding and Robert Boardman, who died when their coach went off an Alpine path three weeks ago, had invited Mr Shaw to the school to help share their grief.