Stagecoach Midlands
Stagecoach Midlands is a bus operator providing local and regional services across the English Midlands, operating in the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Northampton.[1]
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Incidents[edit]
Stagecoach Midlands was fined £2.3 million in December 2018 and later had its vehicle authorisation cut from 227 to 200 for 28 days in March 2019 by the West Midlands Traffic Commissioner for violating health and safety laws. On 3 October 2015, bus driver Kailash Chander mistook the brake pedal of his Dennis Trident 2 double-decker bus for the accelerator, hitting a parked bus on Trinity Street and driving across a grass verge before the bus accelerated down the street and crashed into a Sainsbury's branch. 76-year-old pedestrian Dora Hancox and 7-year-old top-deck bus passenger Rowan Fitzgerald were pronounced dead on scene while other passengers suffered serious injuries. Chander, aged 77 at the time, was found to have worked over 60 hours per week and had previously been warned by Stagecoach bosses after four bus crashes three years beforehand, however he had been allowed to continue driving buses with the company; he was diagnosed with dementia following the crash and was found unfit to stand trial before the Traffic Commissioner.[36][37][38]