A double-decker driver who killed two women when he ploughed into a bus stop after hitting the accelerator instead of the brakes has been spared jail.
Baruania Baros, 35, was trying to manoeuvre his vehicle to deploy a ramp to let a disabled passenger off at the busy Piccadilly bus station in central Manchester around 9.25pm on July 10, 2022.
But in an ‘unfortunate lapse of concentration’ he left it in gear causing it to lurch forward before mistakenly pressing the accelerator instead of the brake.
The bus mounted the pavement and crashed into the bus shelter where Joyce Bacon, 60 and Adele Boylin, 55, were standing.
Mrs Bacon, described by her family as a ‘loving mother, sister and wife’ had been waiting with her husband, Ian, after an evening out to the cinema, and mother-of-four Ms Boylin had finished her shift in admin at Manchester Eye Hospital and was on her way home from work.
The two women, who knew each other and were stood together, were severely injured, Mrs Bacon killed at the scene and Ms Boylin dying six months later in hospital due to her injuries.
Baros, from Ashton-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years.
‘This was a fatal mistake on your part,’ Judge Suzanne Goddard KC told him, describing the incident as a ‘tragic accident’.
Earlier Andrew Hey, prosecuting, told the court Baros drove his bus to the station on his normal route but due to another bus in a bay had to stop at an angle.
He left his vehicle in ‘drive’ mode while he tried to deploy the ramp to allow a disabled passenger off his vehicle.
But the ramp was too high and so he got back in his cab and when he took the handbrake off which lowers the bus automatically, the vehicle ‘lurched forward’, Mr Hey said.
Baros tried to apply the brake but instead pressed the accelerator, causing the bus to collide with the women and the bus shelter.
Mr Hey said a collision incident report by Greater Manchester Police said the rules are 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.
Ian Bacon, Joyce’s husband, told the court of his devastation at the loss of his wife of 15 years.
‘Joyce and I did everything together,’ he said. ‘She was my best friend as well as my wife. Following the loss of Joyce I have struggled deeply with coming to terms with living my life without her.’
In a statement read on her behalf, Ms Boylin’s daughter Sophie said: ‘The day that my mother was struck by a bus was the start of the end of life as I knew it.’
She added: ‘The last thing she said to me was that she loved me and she would speak to me tomorrow. I keep wishing that that tomorrow would happen.’
The court heard that Baros and his family arrived in the UK as part of a refugee program, after spending time detained in a refugee camp in Tanzania.
He married in 2020 and his wife is due to give birth in the next few weeks, Baros’ barrister Patrick Cassidy said.
The lawyer told the court Baros had no record of disciplinary action prior to his dismissal from Stagecoach, and had submitted testimonials which spoke well of him and told of his remorse.
Sentencing, Judge Goddard told Baros: ‘In my judgement you do not present a risk or danger to the public. You have a good record, an absence of previous convictions and you have shown remorse.
‘Here there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, strong personal mitigation, and immediate custody will result in significant harmful impact upon others.’ (Metro)