M62 minibus driver jailed for six years and eight months over fatal crash

Acourt has been told that the minibus driver who caused a crash on the M62 which claimed the life of trainee nurse Bethany Jones, should never have been behind the wheel.

James Johnson from Bradford had already admitted causing the death of the eighteen year old by driving dangerously. But today it emerged that his concentration had been affecetd in recent years after he suffered two mini strokes .

From Leeds Crown Court, Chris Kiddey reports.

Minibus driver James Johnson has been jailed for six years and eight months for causing the M62 hen party coach crash.

Trainee nurse Miss Jones was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering multiple injuries.

The other 19 passengers on the coach, who were from the Pontefract area, were all seriously injured in the crash.

Sentencing him to six years and eight months in prison today, Judge Guy Kearl QC said:

Leeds Crown Court has heard how James Johnson, the driver involved in the M62 hen party coach crash had a history of health problems .

The 64-year-old had previously suffered from two "mini strokes" but maintained he was fit to drive on the day of the accident .

It emerged today that he had suffered one of those strokes while driving a minibus on the M62 almost two years previously.

Johnson , who has admitted causing the death of 18-year-old Bethany Jones by dangerous driving is due to be sentenced later today.

Bethany was killed and many of her friends and family were injured when Johnson's coach, travelling at a snail's pace in the slow lane, was hit from behind by a lorry.

Johnson had carried on driving the coach even though the clutch was burning out. The case is continuing.

The court has heard how a disaster was averted in June 2011 when Johnson suffered a stroke at the wheel.

He was driving a a group of nurses from Manchester to Bradford when he started to veer off the road .

One of the nurses grabbed the handbrake and stopped the vehicle .

A lorry driver involved in the M62 hen party coach crash, which claimed the life of student nurse Bethany Jones, has been cleared of all charges. Kevin Ollerhead walked free from court after a jury took just 3 hours at the end of a two week trial to find him not guilty of causing Bethany's death by dangerous driving. The driver of the minibus who was taking the hen party to Liverpool has already pleaded guilty to the same charge. Chris Kiddey reports

Kevin Ollerhead, the lorry driver accused of the causing the death of 18-year old Bethany Jones was cleared of all charges by a united jury.

The trial heard that the collision happened on April 26 last year after the 24-seater coach suffered mechanical problems and came to a "near standstill" on the motorway.

The coach left South Elmsall, near Pontefract, at 11.00 am to travel to Liverpool for a hen party ahead of the wedding of Stefanie Firth.

The passengers on the bus very quickly became aware of signs of mechanical failure, including a smell of burning, and asked the minibus driver to stop the vehicle.

Johnson did stop the coach, which had a badly burnt-out clutch, and made a brief examination but said he could not find a problem and continued the journey.

The speed of the coach gradually slowed to a crawl until it was travelling at just 5.5mph in the nearside lane of the M62, just after junction 32, near Pontefract.

Mr Ollerhead, who was driving his lorry at 52mph, crashed into the back of the bus, shunting it 50 yards along the road and into a crash barrier, leaving it lying on its side across an exit sliproad.

He told the court he was a professional driver and there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.

A lorry driver accused of causing the death of 18-year-old Bethany Jones has been cleared of all charges.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court found 45-year-old Kevin Ollerhead, from St Helens, not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving, and and not guilty of causing death by careless driving.

He was driving the lorry which crashed into the back of the minibus near Pontefract in April last year.

20 other women were injured in the collision.

The minibus driver James Johnson, whose vehicle was travelling at less than six miles an hour on the inside lane, has admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

A jury has heard today how Kevin Ollerhead, the lorry driver involved in the M62 hen party coach crash, is a changed man since the accident.

Final speeches have now begun at the trial at Leeds Crown Court. Ollerhead denies causing the death of 18-year-old Bethany Jones by dangerous driving.

She died and twenty of her friends and family were injured when Ollerhead's lorry crashed into the back of their minibus.

Chris Kiddey reports:

A jury's heard how Kevin Ollerhead, the driver involved in the M62 hen party coach crash, is a changed man since the crash.

Mr. Ollerhead , 45, denies causing the death of eighteen year old Bethany Jones by dangerous driving .

His sister in law Olive Ollerhead told Leeds Crown Court that since the crash he was a totally different person - "very similar to someone who is brain damaged."

A friend, Paul White , a fellow HGV driver, said Mr. Ollerhead's driving record was impeccable.

Mr. Ollerhead's lorry ploughed into the back of a minibus carrying Bethany and her friends and family to hen weekend in Liverpool in April last year .

The minibus had been going as slow as less than six miles an hour on the inside lane because of clutch problems.

The minibus driver James Johnson has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Mr. Ollerhead's trial is continuing.

Lorry driver accused of causing the death of a teenager in the M62 hen party coach crash has told a court of the moment he collided with the minibus

Eighteen year old Bethany Jones was killed and many of her friends and family were injured in the crash last year .

The prosecution say the lorry driver Kevin Ollerhead had time to avoid ploughing into the back of the minibus, but he says his first memory of the pile-up was seeing the vehicle directly in front of him. From Leeds Crown Court Chris Kiddey reports.

One of the women injured in the M62 minibus crash today told a court that none of the 20 passengers were wearing seatbelts when it was hit by a lorry.

Ashley Warner said there were seatbelts on the 24-seater bus - but the driver did not say anything about wearing them.

Miss Warner, who was herself seriously injured and spent a long time in hospital, also spoke of concern expressed by some of the party that they could smell burning - before the minibus had got onto the M62.

She said the driver had pulled over near Darrington on the A1 and looked under the bonnet but then continued with the journey from South Elmsall to Liverpool.

Miss Warner said she was so concerned she had rung her boyfriend, who worked for the RAC but he hadn't answered.

By the time the minibus joined the M62 she said the coach was travelling at about 10 to 15 mph in the slow lane.

"It was travelling really slowly because we were joking that Jan, one of the ladies on the coach who is really fit, could run quicker," she said.

She said other motorists were aware of their speed because "a couple of wagons went past us sounding their horns, things like that".

18-year-old trainee nurse Bethany Jones was killed in the hen party accident in April last year.

Minibus driver James Johnson has admitted causing her death by dangerous driving. The lorry driver, Kevin Ollerhead, denies the same charge and his trial continues at Leeds Crown Court.