A YOUNG girl was killed as she stepped off the bus with her mum after a driver mounted a grass verge, a court heard.
Stephen Worden, 61, was allegedly attempting to undertake the bus when he mowed down six-year-old Millie Gribble.
Lancashire PoliceMillie Gribble was killed as she stepped off a bus[/caption]
The driver also smashed into a teenage boy and his mum as they stepped off the vehicle in in Bilsborrow, Lancashire.
Preston Crown Court heard the bus driver heard a bang and then screaming as the horror unfolded.
He said: “I could see the three children that had got off the bus lying across the floor and immediately I knew they had been hit.”
Jurors were told witnesses saw Worden attempting to undertake the bus when he mounted the grass verge.
He then came to a “crashing stop” against a lamppost before claiming his brakes had failed, it was said.
Prosecutor Barbara Webster said: “As Mr Worden approached the bus stop, he clearly failed to observe the vehicles ahead of him.
“He failed to see that they were slowing down and stopped. He missed any brake lights. He failed to apply his own brakes at anytime during the dangerous manoeuvre he made.
“He swerved to the left. He mounted the kerb. This was at the same time that [the passengers] alighted from the bus.
“He did not at anytime apply his brakes – we have video footage that shows he did not even brake as he was on the grass verge before hitting Millie and the others.”
The court was told Worden later abandoned his claim that the brakes had failed despite him pumping the pedal.
He instead said the collision was an accident after he lost control of his truck.
Ms Webster said Worden gave no explanation for losing control but suggested he may have suffered a medical episode – although that claim does not form part of the trial.
Worden previously pleaded guilty of causing death and serious injury by careless driving but denies causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
Lancashire PoliceMillie was with her mum at the time[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
