Bus driver gives evidence in crash trial

The driver of the bus which crashed three years ago, which caused the deaths of five Meath schoolgirls, has revealed he had never been told the vehicle was supposed to have an anti-lock braking system (ABS).

Mr John Hubble (aged 58) said nobody in Bus Éireann informed him the vehicle was supposed to have ABS so that he never looked out for a warning light indicating if it was functioning properly.

Mr Hubble told prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, he was "shocked" when gardaí told him after the crash that a bulb was missing from the ABS warning system.

"It wasn't put there for nothing. The lights were there to alert a driver," he said on day-two of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of two companies accused of failing to ensure the safety of the bus.

Evidence from four motorists was also heard by the jury: one who said she never saw the bus' brake lights come on immediately before the crash near Navan in May 2005; a second woman whose car was struck by the bus before it overturned; a third who witnessed that collision.

Ms Sonya Kelly, company secretary, has pleaded not guilty on behalf of Keltank Ltd, from Balbriggan, to two charges of failing to undertake necessary maintenance and repair of the ABS system on the bus on May 6, 2005.

Mr Joe McArdle, a director, has pleaded not guilty on behalf of McArdles Test Centre Ltd, from Dundalk, to two charges of failing to note the ABS warning light on the bus was not operational while conducting a vehicle test on March 15, 2005, two months before the tragedy.

Mr Hubble described to Mr Grehan the events leading up to the crash. He said he picked up half his passengers from the bus depot in Navan and drove towards Kentstown where he picked up more school children. He said there was torrential rain as he left the depot but it eased off.

Mr Hubble said he knew there were works on that road and was doing 30-35 mph when he took his foot off the accelerator as he approached the bend at Mooretown. He touched the brakes when he saw the temporary traffic lights and the back of the bus "did a little quiver" and went out to the right.

He said he pressed the brakes again and his vehicle spun around "like a farm gate".

"The tail of it spun around. It went right round and hit the edge of the road and toppled over into the ditch."

Mr Hubble said the bus was now on its side in the ditch, facing the direction it came from and he broke the windscreen with his foot adding: "My first thought was for the children."

He said he had never received training on how to deal with a skid and had never been given a drivers manual. He said he had never had any accidents before and "didn't touch" drink.

Mr Hubble told Mr Grehan he was not aware the bus was fitted with a computer system for recording brake problems and that this had reached its memory limit of 254 faults.

He denied a accusation by Keltank's defence counsel, Mr Derek C Kenneally SC, that his statement to gardaí was "a very careful attempt to distance yourself from this accident".

Mr Kenneally continued: "I have to put it to you that you were advised by your advisers to minimise your blame in relation to this accident."

Mr Hubble replied that he had sat down with his solicitor and a SIPTU representative to draft the statement but denied being "advised by them".

He told gardaí in his statement: "It must have been a mechanical problem or brake problem or tyres or something to do with the uneven surface of the road."

Mr Hubble said that following his statement, gardaí called to his house and arrested him for dangerous driving. He was taken to Kells garda station where he said in interview he was blaming the oily surface on the road for the crash.

He also said he was unhappy with the number of warning signs for the temporary traffic lights around the bend.

Mr Hubble told Mr Kenneally he was not aware Keltank did not deal with ABS service or repair and because he had never had any previous trouble with the brakes he never had the opportunity to find this out.

Mr Hubble told McArdles' defence counsel, Mr Roderick O'Hanlon SC, he was not aware the bus had failed a road worthiness test in March. Mr O'Hanlon told him the bus had been tested twice, failing the first one before being returned for another which it passed.

He agreed that if he knew the warning bulb was not working he would report it and get it fixed. Ms Shirley Byrne told prosecuting counsel Mr Jonathan Kilfeather BL (with Mr Grehan and Mr Remy Farrell BL) she was nervous about the temporary traffic lights at the crash scene which she thought were too close to the bend on the road there.

She said she kept checking her rear-view mirror because it was her "instinct" that a vehicle travelling around the bend would not have time to stop.

Ms Byrne said that when she stopped at the lights, she left enough room between her black Jeep and the lorry in front of her so she could pull up beside it should something come around the bend behind her.

She then saw a bus come around the bend and veer across both sides of the road.

She moved her car to the left hand side of the lorry and by this time the bus had toppled onto its side, facing in the direction it had come from. Ms Dolores Gibney, who was travelling toward Navan on her way home from work, described how her black Volkswagen Polo and the school bus were in collision after the traffic lights.

She told Mr Kilfeather that once she had crossed back into the proper lane after the road works she saw the rear of a bus "spinning around the turn" and she said to herself: "My God this can't be happening."

Ms Gibney said she heard a bang and knew the bus had collided with her car but couldn't recall much as she passed in and out of consciousness.

Navan school teacher, Ms Janice Ledwidge, who was travelling behind Ms Gibney, said in a statement read to the jury, that she saw the bus approaching side-on with its rear swinging in an anticlockwise direction.

Ms Ledwidge said the bus's impact with Ms Gibney's VW Polo caused the car to spin and collide with her own vehicle. The Polo's motor sounded like a "concertina" as it crashed into her silver Vauxhall on the driver's side. She recognised the bus as a Bus Éireann vehicle because, she said, "its red logo was embossed in my mind".

Ms Yvonne Cahill said that before the collision and the bus toppling over, she didn't see the bus's brake lights come on at all.

All the motorists giving evidence in the trial acknowledged that the surface of the R153 Navan to Kentstown road was wet as it had been raining heavily that day.

The hearing continues before Judge Patrick McCartan and a jury of five men and seven women.