Bus driver, 80, who killed seven-year-old and pedestrian was driving dangerously

A court has ruled that an 80-year-old bus driver was driving dangerously when he caused the deaths of a pedestrian and a seven-year-old boy.

Kailash Chander, who was medically unfit to stand trial, ploughed his vehicle into the side of a Sainsbury's supermarket in Coventry in October 2015.

The former mayor of Leamington Spa was diagnosed with dementia after the collision.

Primary school pupil Rowan Fitzgerald was sitting at the front of the upper deck of the bus and died of a head injury, while 76-year-old pedestrian Dora Hancox died from multiple injuries after being hit by the bus and a falling lamppost.

The 80-year-old had been warned about his "erratic" driving after four crashes in the previous three years, his trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

It was said he had struggled to punch a ticket seconds before the fatal crash because his hands were shaking.

He then mistook the vehicle's accelerator for a brake pedal before smashing into the supermarket, his trial heard.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the front of Chander's double-decker bus as it narrowly missed a crowd of pedestrians before the crash.

Casper Mudenha was gripping a handrail on the vehicle's lower deck as he saw people running away from the bus, he told the trial.

Mr Mudenha described to the court what happened when he handed Mr Chander his return ticket before the collision.

He said: "The driver is supposed to check its validity and they normally punch it to show it's been used.

"When I presented the ticket, he took some time to punch it.

"He was struggling to put the ticket in (to a slot) and punch it."

The witness added: "Before I stepped on the stairs, the vehicle was in motion and he hit a single-decker which was in front of him.

"I remember the revving noise.

"There was taxi rank on the right, which he veered towards.

"It all happened so quickly.

"There were some flagpoles he was hitting and smashing down.

"You could see people running away from the bus. Then it stopped by hitting the Sainsbury's wall."

Asked by prosecution QC Andrew Thomas what the problem seemed to be, Mr Mudenha added: "He was shaking, his hands were shaking. I asked him to just rip it and give it back to me."

Mr Mudenha later told the court: "It felt like the bus was out of control.

"I was focusing on saving myself, holding tight as I could to the rails."

Judge Paul Farrer, summing up the case at a "trial-of-facts" hearing, said one witness had described the movement of Chander's double-decker bus as appearing to have "no driver with the accelerator jammed on".

Chander may face a supervision order at a further hearing in November.

Bus company Midland Red South, which has pleaded guilty to health and safety law breaches, faces an unlimited fine and will also be sentenced later.

Lawyers for Chander, who was 77 at the time of the crash, argued he was driving carelessly and should not be found guilty of dangerous driving.

Before the jury handed down their verdict, the judge told the panel: "You will obviously feel sympathy for the very real tragedy that has befallen Mrs Hancox and her family and Rowan and his family.

"But in judging this case and in deciding whether the prosecution have proved the act of dangerous driving, you have to put emotion to one side.

"You are here to judge the evidence objectively and dispassionately."