6:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010
By James Savage
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.”
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