Crash bus driver made “single error of judgment”

Thursday 20 October 2016

Bus driver Andrew Scott, who crashed his vehicle in June 2015, causing massive damage to the upper deck of a double decker bus, has had his conviction for dangerous driving lowered to careless driving following an appeal to the Royal Court.

Mr Scott was initially banned from driving for 12 months after he forgot that he was driving a double, rather than a single, deck bus and crashed into the bus station. At the time of the appeal he had already been disqualified for 40 days, so the court decided he will now only serve a further six-week driving ban.

The driver should have carried on along La Route De Liberation before turning back into the bus depot, but instead he took the “wrong route” and turned left off La Route De Liberation along the Esplanade, crossing Castle Street towards the bus depot. 

On arriving at the depot he turned right into the entrance for single decker buses only and the bus collided with the entrance causing “substantial damage” to the bus and a number of passengers suffered minor injuries, even though he was only driving at an estimated 6mph at the time of the crash.  

Mr Scott was interviewed immediately after the collision and said he had forgotten he was driving a double decker bus, as he regularly drove both single deckers and double deckers.  

The appeal against Mr Scott’s conviction was “allowed” as the Royal Court, chaired by Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, said there was no evidence of any dangerous driving on the day of the collision.

The appeal said: “The appellant drove at an appropriate speed, there was no suggestion that he flouted the law deliberately and in our view it could not be inferred from the mere fact that the appellant took the wrong route that his standard of driving fell far below that of the ordinary competent motorist from the moment that the wrong turning was taken. The evidence does not support that conclusion. There is nothing to suggest that the appellant’s driving was other than of a high standard. The driving was entirely competent. 

“The facts supported by the evidence are more consistent with a momentary or very short duration single error of judgment which led to the rather dramatic collision. We find it difficult to characterise that as other than falling below standards of a competent driver and quite clearly so, but not so far below as to constitute dangerous driving.

“Accordingly, we allow the appeal against the conviction for dangerous driving and substitute for it a conviction for careless driving.”

Mr Scott, who was convicted in January, was also praised for his actions following the collision. 

The appeal said: “There were injuries, albeit thankfully minor, to members of the public and substantial damage to property. We note that the appellant’s first reaction, as shown by the CCTV footage, upon the accident taking place was to rush up the stairs of the double decker bus to tend to his passengers. That speaks well of him.

“We note he has no criminal record and an unblemished driving record. He is characterised by his employers as one of their best drivers and has worked as a bus driver for a number of years.”

The appeal court handed Mr Scott a fine of £500 and lowered his disqualification to a further six weeks. The original sentence of 90 hours community service was not imposed by the appeal court in their new sentence.