Cambridgeshire council criminally prosecuted over busway deaths

A council will be criminally prosecuted following the deaths of three people and the serious injury of a teenager on a guided busway across six years.

Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts all died in collisions with buses on Cambridgeshire's busway between 2015 and 2021.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it would be prosecuting Cambridgeshire County Council in court.

The council said: "Safety on the busway is and remains a priority."

The HSE said an "extensive" investigation had led it to charge the council under section three(one) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

That section states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

A date for the court hearing has yet to be fixed.

Mrs Taylor, 81, was hit by a bus as she crossed the route with her husband John at Fen Drayton in November 2015, following Christmas shopping.

Another pedestrian, Ms Pitts, 52, was struck on the section between Cambridge railway station and Long Road in October 2021 - the same stretch that 52-year-old cyclist Mr Moir was killed on in 2018.

An inquest into Ms Pitts' death remains ongoing.

The fourth incident involved a teenage cyclist who was seriously injured when, the HSE said, he collided with a bus in the section parallel to Kings Hedges Road, Cambridge, on 9 November 2021.

Cambridgeshire County Council said: "We continue to extend our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of Jennifer Taylor, Stephen Moir and Kathleen Pitts.

"Safety on the busway is and remains a priority for the county council and the operators that use the busway.

"Since its opening in 2011, the guided busway has seen 33 million passenger journeys, the number of bus services has more than doubled, and during that time the council has worked with experts and made regular safety enhancements.

"There is a great deal of information to consider and for legal reasons it would not be appropriate to comment further in light of the decision taken by the HSE."

Rob Moir, on behalf of Steve Moir's family, said: "Whilst a criminal prosecution is under way we hope it doesn't stop any potential improvements being made now."

The guided busway in Cambridgeshire - connecting Cambridge and towns to the north - uses fixed concrete tracks which buses run along, typically with an adjacent path for pedestrians and cyclists.

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