Council fined millions after three busway deaths

A council has been fined £6m after three deaths on the world's longest guided busway.

Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts died after collisions on the Cambridgeshire busway between 2015 and 2021.

Sentencing Cambridgeshire County Council at Cambridge Crown Court, Judge Mark Bishop criticised the authority for its "rigid and blinkered response" to the fatalities, as well as numerous near-misses and accidents.

The authority previously admitted two safety breaches and said it was "truly sorry". It was ordered to pay the fine over three years.

Cambridgeshire County Council runs the transport link that serves Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon. It opened in 2011 and much of the 16-mile (26km) route involves a modified bus being guided along a track.

Ms Taylor, 81, was hit by a bus when she crossed the track on foot at Fen Drayton in November 2015.

Mr Moir, 50, fell into the path of a bus after clipping a kerb with his bicycle that separated him from the busway in Cambridge, in September 2018.

Pedestrian Kathleen Pitts, 52, was struck by a bus on the same stretch in October 2021.

A fourth person, Leon Leeson, was left with memory loss, a broken collarbone, a tear in his liver and the loss of hearing in one ear, following an incident.

The county council previously admitted two charges under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, relating to the public trying to cross the busway at designated crossings and being struck while moving alongside the busway.

In a statement, the family of Ms Taylor said: "As a family we would like to thank the HSE [Health and Safety Executive] for their tireless efforts in bringing this case to court.

"We hope that the lessons learned will lead to sustained safety improvements and help avoid tragedy, injury and suffering in the future.

"Jenny was deeply loved by all of us, and we dearly miss her."

Mr Moir's brother, Rob Moir, said outside court afterwards: "There are no winners here. It's taxpayers' money at the end of the day.

"Hopefully it will be sufficient to make sure that not just this county council but other people, other councils, wake up and make sure they apply the due diligence that they should to health and safety."

The council's chief executive, Stephen Moir, said he was "truly sorry for these failures".

"This should never have happened," he said.

Dr Moir promised the failings the court considered would not be repeated and said changes had been made to the busway's safety regime.

It included installing fencing on the southern section of the busway, reduced speed limits and reviews of all signs.

He said: "I'd like to reassure all those who use the guided busway that we have learnt our lessons the hard way and changed our approach for the future.

"The busway is and remains an important, accessible and safe public transport system for all the people who live in, work in, travel through or visit Cambridgeshire."

In court, the council was criticised for its dismissive and defensive handling of concerns that included poor signage, unsafe crossings and poor lighting.

It heard there was no risk assessment in place until 2016 - a fact the judge described as "particularly shocking".

Several accidents had also never been reported to the HSE, the court was told.

It heard that when the health and safety watchdog issued an improvement notice in 2018, the authority appealed the notice.

The council claimed it was "unwarranted and unlawful" as it had never been in breach of safety laws, the court was told.

Ben Compton KC, for Cambridgeshire County Council, requested that the authority be given six years to pay the £6m, adding: "It's a council - these are hard times."

But the judge rejected this, saying it had more than £18m in reserves to cover legal risks. It gave it three years to pay, and ordered that it paid more than £292,000 in outstanding costs.

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