Ben Thompson
A bus driver has been charged after a pensioner was dragged along the road in an accident that led to her legs being amputated.
Great-grandmother, Joan Scott, had been denied entrance onto the bus in Newcastle by driver, Scott Cliff.
He claimed to have recognised her as somebody who'd previously not had a free bus pass.
Advert
Ms Scott, who is 82 and in the early stages of Alzheimer's, got dragged along with the bus when her stick was stuck in the door.
She was run over by the bus and trapped under the rear wheels for 45 minutes.
Her injuries were so severe that her left leg had to be amputated above the knee and her right below the knee.
Cliff has been jailed for 27 months after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving in the incident that took place in September 2021.
The prosecutor Jane Foley said that he deliberately ignored the elderly woman.
Foley said: "He shut the doors to prevent her getting on the bus.
"As the doors were closing, Mrs Scott placed her walking stick, which was strapped around her wrist, in the centre of the doors. It seems the stick was not large enough to activate a safety function on the bus.
"Only after force was applied to the doors, when she was pulled forward by the movement of the bus, could the doors open. As the CCTV shows, once the bus moved off she fell to the floor and was struck by the bus and trapped by the rear wheels. This caused life-changing injuries.
"Scott Cliff failed to observe the doors until they were fully closed. Had he done so, he would have seen Mrs Scott who was stood very close to the bus raising her walking stick, which then became trapped between the doors."
Passengers on the bus saw the elderly woman hold her hands up to the door, and concluded that the driver must have seen her too.
They also saw the horrific moment that she lost her balance and fell into the road.
Judge Roger Thomas said: "I get the impression he shut the doors to stop her getting on and looked forward because he didn't want to make eye contact." Miss Foley replied: "That's the distraction - to avoid eye contact because he was so intent on driving away to stop her getting on the bus. He was not just simply shutting the doors and casually driving away as he should be."
In a victim statement, Ms Scott's son Brian revealed how the tragic incident had impacted the family.
He said: "She is trapped in a broken body caused single-handedly by the actions of one person.
"This was so avoidable had Mr Cliff shown more compassion and consideration to my mother. He has destroyed our family – and I hope this horrendous incident makes other drivers of all vehicles sit up and take note."