Melissa Burr: Bus driver cleared but still faces jail over fatal crash

A bus driver who killed a woman when he accelerated at London's Victoria station has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

Olusofa Popoola pressed the accelerator rather than the brake, shunting it forward into a stationary bus which then went on to hit Melissa Burr.

Ms Burr, 32, from Rainham, Kent, died from multiple injuries.

At the Old Bailey, the 60-year-old was told he faced jail time after he admitted death by careless driving.

His trial heard he had pressed the accelerator by mistake.

A jury cleared Popoola, of Peckham, south-east London, of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury following a retrial.

Following the incident on 10 August 2021, the other bus driver, Diane Mathuranayagum, suffered a fractured eye socket.

Previously, prosecutor Robert Evans said Popoola had been queueing third in a line of buses, with Ms Mathuranayagum's bus in front of him.

When the first bus moved off, Ms Mathuranayagum moved up to the front of the queue, put on the parking brake and got out.

The court heard Ms Burr was the first of three pedestrians to cross in front of the queue of buses.

Mr Evans said: "He depressed the accelerator pedal with his foot, moving the electric bus forward - driving it forward - and he continued to drive it forward even after his bus had hit the bus in front.

"He then drove forward for almost the whole length of the bus in front, accelerating as he did so.

"The force of the impact from the bus driven by the defendant, into the rear of the parked bus, pushed the previously stationary bus forward and into Ms Burr, who had been crossing the bus bay ahead of it.

"The parking brake had remained applied to the front bus throughout this movement."

He added the parked bus hit Ms Burr, propelling her up and forward. The people behind her jumped backwards out of the way.

In a statement read out in court, Popoola said he "may have applied my accelerator more firm instead of the brake".

"I think I believed that I was pressing the brake," he added.

He added: "I was in a state of shock. I could not believe what had happened. I remained seated for around a minute. I did not think anyone was hurt, just that I had caused damage to the vehicles."

A crash investigation concluded Popoola had continued to apply the accelerator pedal - rather than a foot brake - after impact with the stationary bus before finally using the parking brake to stop.

Data from his vehicle found it was travelling at about 8mph (13 km/h) at the point of collision and reached a peak speed moments earlier of 10mph (16km/h).

There was no suggestion that Popoola, a bus driver for 20 years, had deliberately driven dangerously but the prosecution argued his actions fell below the standard of a careful and competent motorist.

Judge Rebecca Trowler KC adjourned sentencing until 10 November and ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.

She warned the defendant: "Plainly the guidelines relating to causing death by careless driving indicate a starting point of custody."

He was granted continued conditional bail.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]