Ski Trip Coach Crash: Driver Appears In Court

Prayers of course for the bereaved and injured. Prayers for the coach driver. That poor man must be in a living hell right now. Every body out to prove him guilty even if he is not. Prayers for his family as well it must be a nightmare for them. Please don't judge a book by its cover in other words put yourselves in the drivers shoes.

For years I worked on coaches as a tour guide. We had to drive long hours at night. I always talked to the driver just to keep him awake. It's a long lonely night if there is no-one to talk to and the relief driver would have been asleep all or most of the passengers would have been sleeping so don't be to hard on the driver. My condolences to all involved in this terrible tragedy. The poor driver will have to live with the knowledge that he killed a man for the rest of his life. I think that is punishment in itself. A child has to grow up without a father. Why oh why do they have these overnight coach runs? To save money. Money can't buy a life back neither will it stop the nightmares there are to come for all involved.

Please Please Please read the EU Driver Rules for TWO driver trips BEFORE hanging the driver - I have almost fallen asleep many times at the wheel of the coach because of the absurd rules that ALLOW 2 drivers to drive alternately for 21 hours!!!!!!! This driver will be hung out to dry even though he drove by the book!!!

I would like to suggest people give some consideration for the driver and his family.
Whatever went on here it seems it was an accident and just as any motorists professional drivers DO make mistakes and mistakes can happen. Just as a parent today could make a mistake and as a result a passenger in the car die this is NOT because of any intent.

Said it a hundred times,drivers must have their own rooms.Interski do not cover this.I have driven this route numerous times but no longer take this employment.

This is a tragedy, not only for the children and familes and the poor teacher, but also for the driver involved who is also a victim. Yes, he is a victim. .The finger has to be pointed at the Ski companies who want every last working hour out of the drivers, including making them work in the morning, then take a rest and then drive all through the night to get home. Its time to put accountability before accountancy and consider the safety of all concerned.
I speak from a position of authority. I have driven on these trips and know how the drivers are treated by Ski companies. The companies often hide behind legislatio regarding drivers hours, well, just because drivers hours have been complied with doesn't make it morally right to expect so much from the drivers. They have a huge responsibility, sometime for as little as £7 per hour. How much do the Ski companies make?

A parents worst nightmare. My thoughts are with all those still in hospital and the teacher who sadly died.

thoughts go out to the parents, @barry youre comment is just sick you should be ashamed of yourself i doubt going by that comment you will be tho. just hope all get home safely really sad news this is a parents nightmare, finding out youre child is hurt and you cant get to them just awful.

here we go again long hours, poor pay, no one gives a stuff till something happens .my heart gos out,to those poor people on the coach &driver

There were two drivers. I am not saying this is what happened in this case I am hgv & bus driver
Loosly as i understand the law On a two man trip the fist driver can drive for 9 hrs with one break of 45 minutes after 4 1/2 hrs. Then the second Driver can take over and do the same hours the second driver would be resting but not nessaserry asleep (Try sleeping on a bus full of children) when the law stops this from happening the raods will be much safer
there are books full of rules but it is permitted to do the above 19 1/2 hrs with out seeing a propper bed??? and at the wheel of a fully lade bus or artic unit I Must state that i do not know what happened in this tragic case but that is a brief summary of the law

Deepest sympathy to all concerned in this terrible accident, my thoughts are with the parents, children and everyone, including the driver, no-one wants an accident like this to happen, parents must feel helpless that they could not be there to comfort their children.
Prayers too for the people in hospital, may they recover fully.

We have a few uninformed people prejudging the issue here and blaming the coach company and driver. Speaking as a coach driver who has driven many of these trips over the years I know how dangerous they are. Current legislation allows two drivers to drive continuously for up to 20 hours without a break. The schools and organisers opt for overnight travel on the outward and return journeys to be able to offer two extra days in the resort while saving on two nights hotel bills. As a driver the outward journey is not too bad, I would generally have a couple of days off before and be able to adjust my sleep patterns to cope with it. The only real problem is when I was teamed with a driver I did not know or trust. Normally we would do a 4 hour stretch each and then cut it down to slightly shorter sessions. The worst part is around 4am when your brain just wants to shut down, and sometimes we would interchange hourly. If I did not totally trust the other driver I would stay awake during my break, and just try to get through to a breakfast stop at about 7am. Usually I would take the last leg which is generally on icy roads up in the mountains, but the sun coming up and a good breakfast would help me concentrate enough to get there usually by about 10am. While there we would have little to do and would work alternate days.
The real difficulty would be on the return journey. They would ski on the last day and departure would be around 6pm. So we would need to rest during the daytime (legally 8 hours daily rest period before departure) But unless we had stayed awake during the previous night this is impossible and too often the drivers would be expected to share a room. So by the time we left we would not have slept much.
I would often do the first 4 hours to get us out of the mountains and on to the motorways so we would change over at 10pm. Impossible to sleep though, kids wide awake, usually a DVD or music on, and only the jump seat to sit on. So it would be my turn again at 2am, just when any normal person would be expected to be sleeping. And we would be on French motorways, which are great roads. But at that time of the night, they are deserted and featureless, and the coach is dark and silent. Within an hour I would be starting to struggle, and have a can of Red Bull to keep going a bit more (sometimes Proplus too). During this time I was just hoping that my codriver was getting a little sleep, as I knew I would have to trust him soon, so I wanted to keep going as long as I could.
When I could do no more, usually about 4.15am, I would stop for fuel, whether we needed it or not. Both of us could stretch our legs for 15 minutes, and I could make sure he was properly awake before driving.
This was often the crunch time, sometimes the other guy would be fine and do 2/3 hours, but sometimes it was obvious after less than an hour that he was dangerous. So what can we do ? No services are open, and pulling in for an hour is not going to help us get home.
So I would often end up back in the seat very quickly, knowing I was not really in a fit state. And somehow we would make it back to Calais, just doing an hour each. Back to the UK and another driver would be waiting to take over, while we had to drive home exhausted in a car.
It should not be like this. I am lucky now, as I am freelance, so I can refuse these jobs. But a fulltime coach driver has no choice, if he wants his job he has to accept the work given provided that it is legal. The same applies to the coach company, business is tough at the moment, so they have to take any profitable work offered. But they have no say in deciding on overnight travel, simply being told by the organisers what the timings are.
No criticism should be given to the teachers either, they have no say in the matter, and with a few exceptions are committed and caring.
The schools and tour companies organising these trips must take some of the blame, but they obviously have to make their prices realistic

Who says the coach driver fell asleep,that is just speculation,the coach could have skidded,hit a rock or anything-no one knows yet.Dont point the finger at what is not known.

absoloutley horrendous for all concerned so very sorry for the families

This teacher's loss will be felt by so many but his family can be proud that his teaching helped the lives of hundreds of his pupils who have spoken so well of him.
I wish all those injured or affected a speedy recovery in body and mind.

Really sorry. As a Teacher myself, it is your worst nightmare, to see injury or death. This school is situated, just a few miles away, from where I grew up in South Birmingham, as anyone who knows the area. My thoughts and prayers are with the parents and their kids at this time, and hope that all return safely. Don't let us start making judgements about the driver, assumptions are inappropriate at this time.

Please do not pre-judge it was the driver who "fell asleep". Feel for all those involed, families too.

So many accidents with Coaches. Driving through the night even with two drivers is always risky. Awful for all the families involved.

SHOW SOME RESPECT

the route those drivers use is long boring and uneventful add to that the conditions at the time how could it be the drivers fault just a horrific accident how many coaches have gone down that same bank