Inquest: Teenagers' crash deaths 'accidental'

12:25pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008

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THE father of one of three teenagers killed in a New Year's Day crash has said he is relieved that no-one was to blame.

Tom Curran, aged 49, of Raeburn Road, Sidcup, spoke after hearing the inquest into the death of his 15-year-old daughter, Amy Curran, and her two friends Joe Wallis, aged 18, of Shooters Hill, and Georgina Fox, 15, of Eltham.

The Peugeot 206 they were travelling in, driven by Mr Wallis, collided head-on with a bendy bus in Little Heath, Charlton, at 6.20am on January 1, killing the three youngsters and leaving two other passengers with serious injuries.

Police confirmed Mr Wallis was not over the alcohol limit but he had veered on to the wrong side of the road.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded for all three victims at Southwark Coroner's Court today (July 2).

Mr Curran said: "It is a relief that no fingers have been pointed - the crash was a tragic accident.

"For us there is no end to the pain of losing our daughter but this verdict means we can move on a bit and grieve in our own time."

He added: "My thoughts go out to the bus driver. He will have to live with what he saw for the rest of his life."

Statements from the two crash survivors, Chloe Dunne and Matthew Faith, were read out in court.

Both said they felt Mr Wallis was a safe driver and that they were asleep in the car at the time of the crash.

The court also heard from PC Steven Cathrall, a collision investigator for the Met, who said both the car and bus were in good condition and that it was impossible to know exactly what happened.

He said: "For reasons which cannot be determined he (Mr Wallis) drove his vehicle head-on into the bus on the opposite side of the road.

"He could have been distracted or fallen asleep. We just don't know."

When speaking about the injuries to Mr Wallis and front-seat passenger Amy, he said: "It is likely that the front passengers' injuries were compounded by the back seat passengers failing to wear their seatbelts."

Bus driver James Taylor, who was only five minutes into his shift when his empty 453 bus hit the car, also spoke in court.

He said: "As I was approaching Cemetery Lane a car came out around the bend. It wasn't going especially fast but all of a sudden I noticed that it was turning straight into the bus.

"It wasn't as if it came from an angle and swerved. It was if it came straight for the bus. It was all so quick and then the car drove almost head-on straight into the bus and bounced to its final resting place.

"There was a two to three-inch gap between the frame and the body of the car. I tried to get the door open but it wouldn't budge."

Coroner Gail Elliman said: "We don't know, sadly, how the collision occurred.

"We can just say that there were no external factors and that there is no blame to bear. This incident has an inexplicable nature and there is no discernible cause for the collision."