Bus fall woman lucky to be alive

7:10am Saturday 10th May 2008

A PENSIONER who fell from a bus when the driver pulled off too quickly suffered a broken neck.

Helen Matthews was thrown on to the road and dragged along for five feet (1.5m) before the bus driver stopped.

Eight months later, she still has her neck in a brace and walks with the aid of two sticks.

First bus driver David Beck walked free from Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday after admitting careless driving. Beck was given nine penalty points, but was not banned from driving.

Lesley Ashton, prosecuting, said Mrs Matthews had one foot on the road and one foot on the bus and was holding on to the hand rail when the bus doors closed and Beck pulled off. Mrs Matthews was getting off the number 35 bus in Brickfields Road, Worcester, on August 22 last year when the doors suddenly closed and propelled her to the ground.

The court heard Mrs Matthews' handbag may have become stuck in the doors, dragging her along with the bus but it all happened so quickly nobody was entirely sure. She was left with a broken neck, broken leg and cuts to her face.

After the court hearing, she told your Worcester News: "It was terrible and has ruined my life.

"I shall never go on another bus again. I do not want another bus pass."

The 67-year-old woman, of Painswick Close, Warndon, Worcester, was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital where she remained for three weeks.

"I was lucky not to be paralysed because when you break your neck you are either not here or paralysed," she said.

Beck, aged 46, of Selborne Road, Barbourne, Worcester, told the court he had been a bus driver for 11 years and regularly drove route 35.

He said it was physically impossible to get trapped in the doors, but if they shut behind someone, they would be pushed forward.

"She gave me the clear impression she was waiting for me to pull off and only in the corner of my eye I saw her fall and stopped immediately," he said.

"With the greatest respect it was a freak accident."

Sentencing Beck, chairman of the magistrates Mike Brazier said: "The safety of the passengers that you carry is of paramount importance. On this occasion your driving fell well below the standard that the court finds acceptable of the normal driver."

As well as the penalty points, Beck was fined £570, and ordered to pay £400 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

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