Bus fatality driver: ‘I lost control of vehicle’

10:00am Friday 16th May 2008

A bus driver who hit a family, killing a grandmother and causing a two-year-old to lose part of her leg said he lost control of the vehicle before it ploughed into them, a court heard yesterday.

Ismail Ahmed, said he could hear the 65-year-old grandmother, her 35-year-old daughter and her two-year-old granddaughter shouting when his 209 bus crashed into them in the North Worple Way depot, Mortlake, on April 25 last year. None of the victims can be named for legal reasons.

"I'm not that sure how it happened but my foot slipped from the accelerator pedal and got under the brake pedal. I did not succeed in moving my foot out of the position it got in."

Ismail Ahmed

Somalian father-of-four Ahmed, 43, of Southall, told Kingston Crown Court through an interpreter: "I'm not that sure how it happened but my foot slipped from the accelerator pedal and got under the brake pedal. I did not succeed in moving my foot out of the position it got in.

"My heel got on top of the accelerator, that's why the bus moved more than I wanted.

"I hit the bus in front of me and because of the shock I also hit the barrier and the people. I heard the shouting of the people.

"When I hit the bus, I lost control." He said his vehicle had been blocking the road so he tried to move it.

He denies causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of grievous bodily harm.

Earlier this week, the 35-year-old mother likened the moment the bus crashed into her as being hit by a bomb.' She was on the pavement and had bent down to pick something up when she saw it going towards her.

She said: "I don't know where it came from.

"I was behind the barrier and I was squashed against the barrier with my left leg up and my right leg under the bus.

"I think to mount the kerb and hit us with such a ferocious manner, I have always anticipated for the bus to be moving from stationary to 60mph."

The mum said she saw her mother fall and added: "I said, Mummy don't die'."

The court heard how the mum saw that her toddler's right leg was "like a purple balloon with her foot hanging off it".

Doctors battled to save the youngster's leg, but had to amputate it below the knee.

Ahmed said he did not intend to accelerate the vehicle.

The trial continues.

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