Melissa Burr: Bus driver avoids jail over fatal crash

A driver who killed a woman at Victoria station by mistakenly speeding up his bus has avoided jail after admitting causing death by careless driving.

Olusofa Popoola pressed the accelerator pedal rather than the brake causing his bus to shunt forward into a stationary bus which in turn hit Melissa Burr.

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

At the Old Bailey earlier, Popoola, 61, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work and was handed a three-year driving ban.

It comes after a retrial at the same court where the defendant was cleared of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to the other driver Diane Mathuranayagum who suffered a fractured eye socket.

During the hearing, Judge Rebecca Trowler said Popoola's driving fell "just short of dangerous driving".

She said: "Having considered carefully all the evidence in the trials, I am satisfied you failed to look ahead sufficiently and that certainly, at times, you were pressing the accelerator thinking it was the brake.

"I am also satisfied Melissa Burr made no contribution to her own death."

Outlining the facts during the hearing, Judge Trowler said Ms Burr had been travelling to work "as usual" on 10 August 2021.

Shortly before 08:30 BST she was using a pedestrian walkway at the bus station.

The court heard Ms Burr crossed towards the door of a 507 bus parked in a bus stop.

The judge told Popoola: "As she did so, that bus was shunted forward from behind by the bus that you were driving.

"Melissa Burr was hit by the front bus. The impact knocked her to the ground and the bus was then shunted forward by your bus.

"She was later pronounced dead at the scene."

Judge Trowler continued that Popoola lost control of his vehicle for about 10 seconds even after he realised he had hit the bus in front.

During the trial Popoola, from Peckham in south-east London, told the court he believed he was "pressing the brake", adding: "I did not think anyone was hurt, just that I had caused damage to the vehicles."

The court was told he lost his job and was "haunted" by the loss of life he caused.

Sentencing Popoola, Judge Trowler said she exercised her discretion in favour of a suspended sentence, in light of the defendant's "personal mitigation" and "the impact on prisons with a very high prison population".

Reading statements in court, Ms Burr's mother Trish Burr and brother Graham Burr said they struggled to comprehend how an experienced professional driver like Popoola could have made such a mistake.

Mrs Burr said: "My daughter was not stupid. She was the completely innocent victim of one man's incompetent driving."

She told Popoola he was more fortunate, because she had been handed a "life sentence" without her kind and talented daughter.

Mr Burr described the impact of his sister's death akin to "a china vase smashed into a thousand pieces".

Ms Burr's family wept in court as Popoola walked from the dock.

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