Stansted coach crash driver jailed
24.06.08
The driver of a coach that overturned at an M1 service station in Buckinghamshire injuring 33 people has been jailed for 10 months after admitting drunk and dangerous driving charges. Leslie Weinberg, 35, had to be cut from wreckage at Newport Pagnell Services on September 3 last year, after his National Express Birmingham to Stansted Airport coach crashed.
Mr Weinberg, formerly of West Bromwich, pleaded guilty at Aylesbury Crown Court to driving dangerously. He also admitted driving with excess alcohol and received a 4 year driving ban. He had a drink-drive reading of 145mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood; the legal limit is 80mg per 100ml.
The court heard that the coach slammed into a kerb, making it fly into the air, before it landed on its side and hit a lamp post and a tree. After the crash casualties were treated at hospitals in Northampton, Milton Keynes and Oxford. Seven passengers suffered serious injuries, including one man who had his arm amputated.
Mr Weinberg admitted to rescuers he thought he had been turning onto the slip road at junction 14 of the motorway. When they heard this and smelled alcohol on his breath he was given a roadside test, which was positive.
Jailing him for 10 months at Aylesbury Crown Court, Judge Christopher Tyrer told Mr Weinberg he had ‘betrayed the confidence and trust’ of his passengers.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book stansted airport hotel or stansted airport car parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great stansted airport car parking and stansted airport hotel price comparison pages.
