Driver to appear in court over fatal school bus crash

Published on Monday 20 February 2012 11:54

THE driver of a bus carrying schoolchildren home from a ski trip which crashed in France, killing a teacher and injuring ten more people, is due to appear before French courts today.

More tributes have been paid to the Worcestershire teacher who died when the coach overturned in northern France.

Peter Rippington was a “dedicated and inspirational teacher”, Bryan Maybee, chairman of governors of Alvechurch Middle School, said in a statement read outside the school.

“He will be so sadly missed by all those who knew him,” he said.

Dozens of children were injured when the bus flipped over and plunged to the bottom of a motorway embankment near Reims in the Champagne-Ardenne region in the early hours of Sunday.

Initial tests on the coach driver, who received minor injuries, showed he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and local police are believed to be investigating whether he might have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Mr Rippington’s wife Sharon and daughter Amy were also injured in the crash, which involved 29 pupils from the school in Alvechurch, Worcestershire.