Driver jailed after school bus mows down six-year-old pupil

Adrian Shearing mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brake and his 67-seat DAF automatic coach sped off at 12mph, just as Nicola Connor was on the congested road only feet from the school gates with her son Finlay.

Finlay and Mrs Connor were trapped between his vehicle and a Fiat Punto outside Woodborough School in Pewsey, Wiltshire.

Mrs Connor was dragged under the coach for 30 yards until Shearing, 52, managed to stop it. She suffered “massive injuries” to her legs, pelvis and body; Finlay never regained consciousness, Winchester Crown Court was told.

Shearing had only driven the coach owned by Bodman And Sons once before. He was a part-time driver who had been employed for six months to drop off pupils at various schools.

Shearing, from Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving on March 14 this year.

Just before the incident a tractor had scraped the side of the coach and Shearing, who was described as “annoyed but not angry”, had exchanged details before getting back behind the wheel.

By this time the narrow road outside the school was blocked as another tractor waited to get by.

Parents had parked further away and were walking in the middle of the road to get to the school gates.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said: “The second tractor driver, Ryan Lanfear, described hearing the bus rev hard three times and then continuously.

“He could not believe the speed that the bus took off past him. There are quite a number of witnesses who describe the high revs and shooting off at some speed.”

The barrister said the Fiat was in front of the bus as it sped off.

“In a ghastly coincidence Mrs Nicola Connor was leading her son by the hand behind the Fiat just as the coach careered forward into it. Both were struck down.”

Shearing was heard to say the brakes had failed but the court heard the coach had no defects and Shearing had suffered sudden acceleration syndrome, where the driver of an automatic vehicle becomes confused when they press the accelerator by mistake and not the brake and cannot understand why the vehicle will not stop.

In mitigation, the court heard Shearing was an ordinary hardworking family man with no previous convictions. Judge Guy Boney banned him from driving for three years.