UK bus company fined £2.3m after driver killed two in crash

A bus company in the UK has been fined £2.3 million for failing to act on warnings over a driver who killed two in a crash.

Kailish Chander, 80, allegedly mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal leading to the bus crashing into a Sainsbury supermarket in Coventry on October 13, 2015, killing Rowan Fitzgerald, 7, and Dora Hancox, 76.

Midland Red (South), which is part of the Stagecoach group, failed to act on several warnings about the standard of Chander’s driving.

The company admitted to breaching health and safety standards and was sentenced, alongside Chander after a two-day hearing at Birmingham Crown Court.

The driver was found to have been driving dangerously at a fact finding trial in September this year.

Due to being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, he could not be found guilty, however, Chander was subjected to a two-year supervision order, which includes conditions of being under a social worker and a psychiatrist for the entire time of the order.