Manchester crash: Driver pleads guilty over bus stop deaths

A bus driver has admitted killing two women after he hit the accelerator instead of the brake.

Joyce Bacon, 60, and Adele Boylin, 55, died after a double-decker bus careered into pedestrians waiting at a bus stop in Piccadilly, Manchester, on 10 July 2022.

Baruania Baros, 35, of Ashton-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates' Court earlier.

He is due to be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on 2 May.

Baros had been trying to manoeuvre his vehicle to deploy a ramp to let a disabled passenger off his bus at the busy Piccadilly bus station in central Manchester around 21:25 BST.

But in an "unfortunate lapse of concentration", Manchester Magistrates' Court heard, he left the vehicle in "drive" gear causing it to lurch forward before mistakenly pressing the accelerator instead of the brake.

The bus mounted the pavement and ploughed into the bus shelter where Ms Bacon and Ms Boylin who knew each other, were standing.

Ms Bacon was returning to her home in Droylsden after going to watch the Top Gun Maverick film with her husband when the crash happened.

Paying tribute to her, Ian Bacon described his wife as a loving mother, sister and wife who "loved to take care of people".

He said she had a "fabulous smile".

"She was very generous by nature just like her mother. We will all miss her so much, especially me," he said.

Mother-of-four Ms Boylin had finished her shift in admin at Manchester Eye Hospital and was on her way home from work.

She was taken to hospital with serious injuries after the crash but died six months later.

Baros, of Bentinck Street, was disqualified from driving immediately after entering his guilty pleas to two counts of causing death by careless driving.

He has no previous convictions, a clean driving licence and had shown remorse, the court heard.

Andrew Hey, prosecuting, said a collision incident report by Greater Manchester Police said the rules stated that a bus should not be parked in drive but always in neutral before a driver leaves his seat.

If he had left the bus in neutral and not hit the accelerator the collision could have been avoided, the report concluded.

Majid Awan, mitigating, said: "Mr Baros is in no way excusing what happened and is extremely remorseful to the family of the victims.

"It is no more than an unfortunate lapse of concentration.

"Tragically two members of the public did lose their lives."

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