Pupil recalls moment tractor and school bus collided (From Swindon Advertiser)

Pupil recalls moment tractor and school bus collided

9:00pm Friday 20th November 2009 in

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BRAVE schoolgirl Robyn George has said she will continue to sit in the same seat on her school bus despite being injured in the horrific crash earlier this week.

Bradon Forest School pupil Robyn, 12, was sat just inches away from the raised grabber of a tractor which sliced through the top deck of her school bus last Monday as it travelled through Lydiard Millicent.

She was one of three pupils rushed to hospital and had deep cuts to her face.

She said: “It was such a big shock because I didn’t see the tractor – all I heard was a big smash and a load of glass coming at my face.

“There was blood all over my face and everyone was screaming – it was horrible.

“There was glass and blood all over the floor.

“I had a deep cut below my eye, one on my right cheek, scratches on my ear and another cut below my hair.

“My best friend was airlifted to hospital because she had dislocated her shoulder but she is home now and will hopefully be back at school in a few weeks.

“Everyone at school keeps asking me about it.

She said: “I am not afraid of getting on buses and I will sit in the same seat as before.”

“I want to thank everyone that helped me – especially two passers-by who came up and sat with me holding my hand until my parents came.”

Robyn’s dad Paul George has said the crash could have been worse but said his daughter is remaining positive.

He said: “Robyn keeps saying if they hadn’t ducked it would have been so much worse and I honestly think if they were adults on that bus it would have been fatal.

“But there are a lot of ifs – if the bus driver had not managed to swerve, if the tractor had pierced straight through the front of the bus. But you have to remain positive and just be thankful it was no worse.

“I want to give a special thanks to Daniel Pugsley who raced upstairs to see what had happened to a couple of his friends, and stayed by the side of Robyn and her friend, comforting them until the services arrived and the parents had arrived.

“He is a credit to himself, his parents and, like many other children acting the same way, a credit to the school.

Martin Habgood is another parent of one of the crash victims but said more should have been done to prevent it from happening.

His eldest daughter was on a double decker bus travelling to Bradon Forest School in March 2005 when it overturned into a ditch.

He says his family have now had to endure the same trauma all over again because lessons were not learnt.

He said: “The trauma she suffered then is still evident today when she speaks of it, the screams of the younger children, those that were hurt, the fear that they were trapped as the double decker toppled onto its side effectively blocking the exit door.

“After this crash I wrote to Bradon Forest School pleading with them to liaise with Thamesdown Transport and Swindon Borough Council to withdraw double decker buses on the school-run along the narrow lanes between Swindon and Purton.

“I warned in my letter at that time that further accidents would happen if action was not taken. It was not.

“Now we have another accident more serious than the first and there would have been no serious injuries if a single deck coach had been in use.

“Ironically my son was on the bus in the accident involving the tractor, he was on the top deck, his face was cut by shards of flying glass on impact.

“When our son came through the door he collapsed onto the floor in floods of tears, he was seriously traumatised by what he had witnessed, his friends cut and bleeding, their awful distress, one girl still trapped when he left the site.

“Another thing is that some children wandered away from the crash site and found their own way home,walking miles along dark unlit roads into Swindon.

“There are actions that need to be taken and questions that need to be answered.”