A Scottish National Express coach driver who caused a terrifying crash on an M4 sliproad which left three passengers dead while giving a safety announcement as he sped around a bend was jailed for five years today.
A Scottish National Express coach driver who caused a terrifying crash on an M4 sliproad which left three passengers dead while giving a safety announcement as he sped around a bend was jailed for five years today.
Philip Rooney, 49, was speaking over the vehicle's public address system while trying to negotiate a 40mph bend at 55mph when he lost control.
Father of three Rooney, of Larkshill Drive, Carluke, Scotland, was also banned from driving for three years at Oxford Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Rooney was behind the wheel of a London to Aberdeen double-decker which overturned on the M4 slip road near Heathrow airport on January 3 last year.
Christina Toner, 76, from Monifieth, Angus, and 30year-old Yi Di Lin, from China, died in the crash. John Carruthers, 78, of Chertsey, Surrey, died six months later in hospital.
Dozens of other passengers were also injured and treated in hospital, with several losing limbs in the accident.
Rooney admitted three charges of causing death by dangerous driving when he appeared at the Old Bailey in October.
A total of 69 people, including two drivers, were on the coach, which was due to call at Carlisle, Hamilton, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.
It had just left Heathrow after picking up a number of incoming holidaymakers and other airline passengers when it overturned on the slip road leading from junction 4B of the M4 eastbound at about 11.45pm.
Police declared the crash "a major incident" and placed a number of hospitals in the area on a state of alert. Firefighters helped 36 of the passengers out of the bus and used hydraulic and thermal imaging equipment and airbags to rescue six people trapped in the wreckage.
Survivors later described the scenes inside the bus when the vehicle overturned on the road. Peter Grimes, 45, originally from Glasgow, said: "It was mayhem, it was carnage."
