Questions must be asked about tragic coach trip

THE death of a 17-year-old Lanark Grammar School pupil when the bus she was travelling in skidded off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm in the early hours yesterday is, first, a personal tragedy.

Natasha Paton's friends and family will be mourning a loved one lost, and it is right that the police and South Lanarkshire Council, which has responsibility for the school, should concentrate initially on ensuring the welfare of those lucky to survive the crash.

However, once this task is under way, it is inevitable that the authorities will have to turn their attention to the circumstances that led to this terrible crash, which cost one young girl her life and put other lives in danger.

Yesterday, the police said the atrocious weather when the coach set off on a trip to Alton Towers had played a part in the crash, and last night questions were beginning to be asked about why the trip was allowed to go ahead.

It has been said that the driver of the bus had many years' experience, that the bus was fitted with seat belts, that the roads had been gritted and the theory has been advanced that the coach simply hit a patch of black ice.

Against that, questions must be asked over why parents, teachers and the bus driver decided to go ahead with taking the bus on narrow, snow-ridden roads in very severe weather, which was forecast to last for some time and would have made any journey potentially dangerous.