Bosses Waiting to Quiz Driver

By Steve Johnson

TRANSPORT bosses were today waiting to question a bus driver about the crash.

Travel West Midlands spokesman Phil Bateman said today that the accident involved a single-decker Volvo B10 bus, which was on the 205 service between Dudley and Blackheath, via Burnt Tree island.

He said that Travel West Midlands wanted to put on record its sympathy for the family of the 40-year-old man who was killed in the accident.

“Travel West Midlands are co-operating fully with West Midlands Police who are investigating the cause of the accident,” he said.

“We have also started our own internal investigations.

“The police have confirmed that the bus collided with a lamp post, then the pedestrian and a parked car before veering into the row of houses.

“The driver of the bus was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The gas supply to the houses was turned off while engineers made the houses safe. No other injuries were reported,” he added.

Mr Bateman said the sympathies of TWM were very much with the family of the dead man, who has not yet been named.

He said the bus driver, a man aged about 50, had not been seriously injured and travel chiefs were hoping to speak to him today to get his account about what happened.

West Midlands Ambulance Service Murray MacGregor said it was a tragic incident but it could have been much worse.

“The potential for a far more serious incident cannot be under- estimated.

“There was only one passenger on the bus, and no-one in any of the houses affected was involved.

“Given the time of day this happened it is perhaps unusual that the bus was so empty and there were no people hurt in the homes affected.”

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