Coach driver 'hit car at 60mph'

Coach driver 'hit car at 60mph'

An inexperienced coach driver approached a roundabout at more than 60mph before hitting a car and overturning, causing the deaths of 10 of his passengers, a court was told yesterday.

Phillip Crisp, 26, later blamed the crash on sudden total brake failure but tests and a reconstruction of the accident showed his 53-seater vehicle was being driven too fast, it was alleged.

Mr Wyn Williams QC, prosecuting, said newly-qualified Mr Crisp, employed by Lewis Brothers, of Aberdare, Mid Glamorgan, was a relief driver who had volunteered to take the coach party on a trip from a council day centre at Aberdare to Stratford-upon-Avon in July 1995. The case continues.