Bogdan Ksiazek: Minibus driver jailed for killing three passengers

A minibus driver who killed three passengers when he failed to give way at a junction in a "momentary aberration" has been jailed.

Bogdan Ksiazek, 44, was taking 18 passengers home from a market when the crash happened near Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire, on 14 November 2019.

Ksiazek "didn't realise there was a junction there", a judge said.

At Cambridge Crown Court he was jailed for five years after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Margaret Henwood, 85, Barbara McGruer, 86, and Richard Kenworthy, 72, died following the crash with a Volkswagen Golf on the B1040 at the Somersham Road crossroads.

Eight others, including the driver of the Golf, suffered serious injuries and Ksiazek, of Towcester, Northamptonshire, was also found guilty of eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The passengers on the minibus were all retired and aged in their 70s and 80s and were going home to the Midlands from the market in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Mr Justice Cavanagh, sentencing, said Ksiazek changed his route because there was congestion on the A14, and he was using Google Maps on roads with which he was "not familiar".

He told Ksiazek: "You had a large number of visual and other clues that a junction was coming up at which you had to give way, and yet you didn't respond to them."

The judge said he accepted the evidence of a collision expert that the defendant either "missed all of the clues and didn't realise there was a junction there at all or you mistakenly thought you had the right of way".

Mr Justice Cavanagh said that Ksiazek's suggestion that the Golf driver was going too quickly was "made up... in order to seek to escape blame for the collision".

The defendant had claimed he had been in shock when he gave the account.

Mark Shelley, in mitigation, said Ksiazek had no points on the UK driving licence he had obtained in 2004.

"Not a day goes by when he doesn't think of the people he hurt and killed in this incident," said Mr Shelley.

The judge told Ksiazek: "You were fully licensed and trained to drive the vehicle and I am satisfied that you were normally a very careful, responsible and safe driver.

"This was a momentary aberration which was completely out of character."

Ksiazek was banned from driving for four-and-a-half years and must take an extended driving test if he seeks a new licence afterwards.

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