Bus crash driver to face drink chargeS
SPECIAL needs schoolchildren were left with cuts and bruises when their bus driven by an alleged drink-driver crashed and overturned.
Dave Snell, 55, of The Brambles, Market Rasen, has been accused of being almost two times over the legal drink-drive limit when he ploughed a LDV minibus into a field in Top Road, Osgodby.
The crash, on February 20, left Mr Snell with serious back injuries – he had to be cut from the wreckage and airlifted to hospital in Nottingham.
The seven children on board were on their way home to Market Rasen after school in Gainsborough – none of them were seriously injured but several suffered cuts and bruises.
Their carer – a 58-year-old Market Rasen woman – broke her collar bone and was taken to Lincoln County Hospital.
The minibus was one of Tony Blanchard’s vehicles, who owns Market Rasen taxi firm Blanchards Taxis, which takes the 11 to 16-year-olds to and from school. Speaking to the Rasen Mail after the crash, he said nothing like this had happened in his 30 years in business.
Mr Snell has been summoned to appear at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on June 12.
I’ve had the business. I was horrified when I found out about it, I was on the scene in 20 minutes.
“The emergency services were there and the children were all checked out. Some were shocked, some had cuts and bruises but they were fine. It’s amazing when you consider the injuries the adults suffered.
“I’ve known the driver for 20 years and he’s worked for me for the last two years. They had to cut up the bus to get him out.
“I haven’t spoken to him since the crash but his wife told me he’s broken a vertebrae in his back and the doctors don’t know how serious his injuries are yet.
“I think he must have caught the side of the road and it’s taken them down into the field, you could barely see the bus from the road.”
Mr Snell is being summonsed to appear at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on June 12.
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Weather for Market Rasen
Wednesday 19 June 2013
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