Bus company fined more than £2 million after fatal supermarket crash
A bus company has been handed a £2.335m fine after one of its drivers crashed into a supermarket, killing a passenger and a pedestrian.
Kailash Chander, who was 77 at the time, was permitted to work by Midland Red (South), part of Stagecoach, despite there being concerns about his driving.
The company pleaded guilty last year to offences contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act.
A court heard that Chander, from Leamington Spa, mistook the accelerator for the brake, before the fatal crash in Coventry in October 2015. He was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial due to dementia.
But a jury at a finding-of-fact trial ruled that Chander, now 80, was driving dangerously when he killed primary school pupil Rowan Fitzgerald, aged seven, and 76-year-old pedestrian Dora Hancox.
They were told Chander had been warned about his “erratic” driving by his employer after four crashes in the three years prior to the crash.
At the trial, an expert said Chander may have been suffering from undiagnosed dementia – without showing symptoms to colleagues – at the time of the crash.
He's been given a supervision order.
Judge Paul Farrer QC, sentencing the company, said it had failed to follow policy in the run-up to the smash. He said:
In a statement, Phil Medlicott, Managing Director of Midland Red (South), said:
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