19 October 2023 , 09:59
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An inquest into a tragic coach crash on the M53 earlier this year found no one aboard had been wearing a seatbelt when it veered off the carriageway.
Jessica Barker, 15, was thrown from the vehicle and crushed underneath it, dying instantly from “catastrophic injuries”. Driver Stephen Shrimpton, 40, also died in the accident last month on the motorway while travelling from Chester to West Kirby Grammar School in the Wirral.
The Senior Coroner for Liverpool and Wirral said CCTV from the coach showed there were more than 50 pupils on board and none of them, nor the driver, were wearing seat belts. After opening an investigation into the incident, coroner Andre Rebello has written to Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to express his concerns.
Jessica Baker, 15, was killed in the tragedy (PA)Warning more deaths will occur in the future if lessons in wearing seatbelts are not heeded, he said: “In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you (and/or your organisation) have the power to take such action. Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed.
“Review of CCTV does not show the seatbelts were being used. This coach had secondary school children on board. Some of the pupils those below 14 years of age would be expected to wear seatbelts under driver supervision. This was a school commuter coach travelling on a motorway. It was constructed after 2001 and will have had seat belts fitted. The driver did not appear to be wearing a seat belt.
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Driver Stephen Shrimpton also died in the accident (PA)"A distinction should be drawn between school buses in built-up areas and school commuter coaches travelling a distance using A roads and the motorway network - with regard to the availability and use of seatbelts. I take judicial notice that using seat belts can prevent some injury altogether, make inevitable injury less serve and reduce the risk of fatal injury."
Describing the accident, he explained the coach had been travelling in the central lane and, after overtaking another vehicle, moved back into the left hand lane. However, it then crossed the hard shoulder and went down the embankment and into the overgrowth. Jessica was ejected from the coach and killed instantly.
Mr Rebello asked the two ministers what advice government gives schools and colleges handing out school bus commuter contracts about the use of seatbelts. Requesting a response by November 30, he added: “Jessica was a 15 year old pupil who was a passenger travelling on the school coach from her home address in Chester to West Kirby Grammar School when the bus was involved in a one vehicle road traffic collision. Jessica and the coach driver died in the incident. There were over 50 students on board.
"CCTV from within coach shows that prior to the collision, the driver slumps/falls to his left hand side prior to the vehicle leaving the motorway and the collision occurring. During the course of the vehicle rolling down the embankment, a passenger on the coach, Jessica Evie Baker, was partially ejected from the vehicle and became trapped underneath it.
"This has resulted in catastrophic instantly fatal injuries. Jessica was pronounced deceased at scene by attending paramedics at 09.01. The driver was also pronounced deceased at scene at 08:50."
A police investigation into the incident is underway which the coroner's court will review next March, Mr Rebello said.