News RSS Feed


Mum in plea for tougher rules on reporting a crash

6:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in


A WORCESTER mum is calling for stricter rules for coach companies responsible for school contracts after a crash involving her car and a minibus was not reported to the council.

Joanne Tew is set to receive an insurance payout after the company involved accepted liability 18 months after the accident.

Miss Tew was travelling with her nine-year-old son in November 2008 when a Crown Coaches minibus crashed into the back of her Nissan Micra, writing off the £3,000 car.

The 37-year-old and her son both suffered whiplash in the incident, which happened at the junction of Broadway Grove and the A44 in St John’s, Worcester.

Crown Coaches, which has Worcestershire County Council contracts with schools and care homes, did not report the accident to the council as the driver was doing private hire work at the time.

However, Miss Tew, of Harrington Road, St John’s, thinks the council should be notified when any of their contractors are involved in accidents.

She said: “Why would a company report an accident to the council when they can just say they were doing private hire work at the time?

“They are driving children and other vulnerable people, so the council should be informed when there is any type of accident – whether it happens on a private hire job or a council contract.”

A Worcestershire County Council spokesman said it had no record of the accident in November 2008 as it did not happen while undertaking work on one of its contracts.

The spokesman said: “This would appear to be a private matter between Miss Tew, her insurers and Crown Coaches. As such, there is no requirement for us to be notified by operators of incidents not related to work undertaken on behalf of the county council.”

Following a Freedom of Information Act request by your Worcester News, the council spokesman confirmed that since June 2008, no accidents had been reported by companies operating school contracts.

A spokesman for Crown Coaches, which is based at Crown Auto Park, Midland Road, Worcester, said: “The matter has been sorted out between the two insurance companies.

“The incident occurred on a private hire job, so there was no need to inform the county council.”

Comments(12)

rgdudley says...
8:22am Wed 17 Mar 10

What does this lady expect the Council to do if it was told? What's the point? In a time when budgets are being squeezed does she expect the Coucil to employ extra staff to process (file) reports of accidents that are of no interest to the Council?
.
Or is she just miffed that the insurance payout took so long and she is trying to make mischief?
.
Some people need to get a life.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

jb says...
8:31am Wed 17 Mar 10

“They are driving children and other vulnerable people, so the council should be informed when there is any type of accident – whether it happens on a private hire job or a council contract.”

Would this person expect the coach company to notify all clients they hold contracts with if they have a collision? This was an issue that was sorted out between insurance companies, I assume no criminal convictions resulted from this so why is she being so vindictive towards them. If she was so concerned about this issue of safety for children and vulnerable people why has she waited 18 months until she gets her payout to sound off about it?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

BananaDelight says...
8:41am Wed 17 Mar 10

I'm not entirely sure what this lady's point is. The driver was employed by Crown Coaches, who were aware of the accident - the driver is not employed by the council and Crown are just a subcontractor of the council from time to time.
The council can, if they choose to, request information from subcontractors regarding their practices and safety records - it is obviously up to the subcontractor if they choose to supply this information. Is she suggesting that drivers of council subcontracted vehicles are unsafe? Surely the council wouldn't employ them if they were.
Accidents happen, please put it into perspective.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

worcwisdom says...
9:48am Wed 17 Mar 10

I can't see the point here. If they weren't undertaking Council work at the time what business is it of the council?

I imagine schools, colleges and the council have some contracts with taxi drivers, should they be notified of all accidents they have?

Now, if we are talking children and vulnerable adults and criminal convictions that is another matter.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Malvern says...
12:43pm Wed 17 Mar 10

Doesn't she know that on these type of articles that you are supposed to look upset and hurt on the photograph. She is blatantly smiling, no wonder nobody is taking her seriously.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Olga says...
1:55pm Wed 17 Mar 10

While I am not making a comment on this particular case - it is amazing how people always claim "Whiplash" at the slightest bump!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

joannetew says...
4:40pm Wed 17 Mar 10

Lastly, I want to apologise because i dont think the story comes across very clearly. Im not vindictive im not a money grabber everyone who knows me knows that. But my friend who read the story and who knows what happens thinks that it has not been put across in the right way. I probably sounds like another driver trying to get money for nothing but trust me it was never about that. Its about the point that if there had been some record of this drivers history logged with the council contracts then he would have been removed from the roads sooner. I dont expect you to understand fully from this news article as its a complex subject. I could nt get anything done about this before as i had a case ongoing and the newspaper couldnt comment until my case was concluded. Not everyone is motivated by self and money, and its really nasty to suggest that i m such a person. My conscience is clear those who know me know my true values the rest of you are not important :)).

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

selcuk says...
4:49pm Wed 17 Mar 10

For those of you, who have criticised this lady, one day, it may be this guy who drives you or your kids around again... how much do you feel safe about that? There are lots of people losing their lifes or they are getting injured because of these irresponsible and careless driver. somebody said he assume no criminal convictions resulted from this, so what? what if this lady or her son was badly injured coz of this? and somebody says why shes smiling. for gods sake, this happened before long time ago, all she wants is the roads to be safe from these sort of drivers, please put your self in her place, it could be you who had a loss or it could be your child that was injured

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

gemini2009 says...
8:20am Thu 18 Mar 10

It will be interesting to know if his current employer has disciplined him? how can they say this was a little bump? especially when there was a child in the car!!....County Council has the right to remove any driver from their contracts, this is what i have been told

I applaude Joanne for taking this further as this needs to be

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

murray kelso says...
9:53am Thu 18 Mar 10

Please note that some comments have been removed from this article for legal reasons.
.
MK - Digital Editor

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

BananaDelight says...
11:04am Thu 18 Mar 10

Again - please put this into perspective. There are accidents on the roads every day, how many of those involve professional drivers? The answer is very few.
Wanting every driver tarnished for every minor accident they have is ridiculous - especially when this person was not employed by the council.
It is his employer's responsibility to deal with this, not the council's, I really don't see the complexity of that.
I do understand that this was obviously a frightening experience but there are limits to how far you can take things.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

DarrenM says...
7:32pm Thu 18 Mar 10

How would he have been removed from the roads ?

Do the council now have powers to revoke driving licenses?

Even if they stopped him driving on council contracts he could be driving on a normal non-council contract and then collide with another motorist.

Oh wait a minute that's exactly what did happen.....

Has the Evening News opened a reporting line for loonies recently? The next thing someone will be writing in to complain they had to wait for the AA to turn up and when they finally did arrive they didn't take them home in a limo.........

You should have seen the Queue in Greggs the other day when I went for my lunch, and then when I finally got it it was lukewarm as well, how about a two page spread with photo's of the pasty, padded out with a few comments from Greggs about how they are working to reduce the queuing time or something..... :-)

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

More News stories


Joanne Tew, who was hit by a minibus, wants all incidents involving council contractors to be logged. 10447101. Buy this photo icon Buy this photo » Joanne Tew, who was hit by a minibus, wants all incidents involving council contractors to be logged. 10447101.

Most popular



Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

Local Businesses