School bus driver '˜went through two road closed signs before stranding 23 children in floods'

A school bus driver who drove past two road closed signs in North Yorkshire before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board has told a jury he made a 'genuine mistake'.
The school bus stuck in flood water between Newton-on-Ouse and Tollerton, North Yorkshire, last JanuaryThe school bus stuck in flood water between Newton-on-Ouse and Tollerton, North Yorkshire, last January
The school bus stuck in flood water between Newton-on-Ouse and Tollerton, North Yorkshire, last January

Graham Jones told York Crown Court how he was driving the children, aged between 11 and 18, to Easingwold School, when he realised the floodwater he had been driving through was coming in through the side door of his bus.

Jones, 43, said he put the vehicle in reverse but the bus began to move sideways until it got stuck in a roadside ditch.

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He said both he and the children were traumatised by what happened as firefighters had to wade thigh-deep into the water to carry everyone on board to safety.

School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.
School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.

Jones said some of the teenagers broke a window as he tried to reassure them and urged them to stay on the vehicle until help arrived.

Giving evidence in his trial, the former Army driver confirmed he had already driven through one stretch of flooded Tollerton Lane, near the village of Newton-on-Ouse, near York, when he attempted to cross a second waterlogged section.

But he denied that his actions amounted to dangerous driving because he did not think the water was deep enough to cause him any problems.

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The jury of seven men and five women was shown a video shot by police later on the morning of January 5.

School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.
School bus driver Graham Jones, who drove past two road closed signs before stranding his vehicle in floodwater with 23 children on board, a court has heard.

The film, shot from the passenger seat of a Land Rover, showed the scene as the vehicle went through one flooded road section and stopped at the inundated second section.

But Jones told the jury the water was not as deep when he took the decision to drive into the water hours before, on the first day of the school term.

And he said he only saw one of the two closed road signs visible on the video, saying he thought they referred to a bridge closure he was aware of further up on Tollerton Lane and not the section he was on.

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Jones repeatedly denied driving dangerously, although he admitted his driving was careless.

He said: “It was a genuine mistake.”

But Graham O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said to Jones: “The way you drove on that day was dangerous, wasn’t it.”

The defendant replied: “No, it wasn’t.”

Jones said: “I did not put the children’s lives in danger. No, I did not class it as dangerous.”

Mr O’Sullivan told the jury: “Mr Jones drove through two expanses of floodwater without knowing the depth of it, without knowing the breadth of it, without knowing the effect it would have on his coach, knowing he had 23 children on his coach, knowing there was company policy saying you should not drive into water without knowing the depth.

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“It is clear that someone who is driving in that way, risking the safety of his passengers and himself, is driving dangerously.”

Judge Paul Batty QC said the incident happened after “floods of biblical proportions” had affected the York area.

Summing up the case, the judge said it was not disputed how the bus became stranded and the children became trapped on board.

He said: “They were rescued by the emergency services because this defendant - who knew the area like the back of his hand and knew the area was prone to flooding and who drove a service bus in this general area - they had to be rescued because he took the decision, and he alone, to drive that coach not through puddles but through two areas of flooded road.

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“The first area of flooded road he got through successfully and the second he did not. The vehicle ultimately was trapped to the side of the road in a ditch.

“Mercifully, it was trapped there and did not get swept away with the children inside.”

The judge reminded the jury that Jones did not know for sure the depth of the water he attempted to cross.

He said: “Yet, with 23 children in his charge, nevertheless he went ahead.”

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The jury will be sent out to consider its verdict on Friday morning.

Jones, of Linton Woods Lane, Linton-on-Ouse, denies one charge of dangerous driving.

The jury was told by the judge that if it finds him not guilty of this charge they will have to convict him of careless driving “on his own confession”.

The case continues.