Coach accident near Kangaroo Valley

[ed K]

Ten (10) news has just reported a coach has crashed through a guard rail on Kangaroo Valley road tonight, they report the driver has passed away and 4 passengers are in a critical condition.

Unfortunately the media will probably push the seat belt issue again this week.

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[snowdog]

Any one know who owned the bus/coach in the accident at kangeroo valley.

[boronia]

No, but it was described by the all imforming Telegraph as a "42 seat mini-coach"

[boronia]

From footage just shown on Ch 9, it showed what looked like "STEVE"S" on the side.

[Free Lance]

ABC news showed vehicle being towed from ravine "TV3574"

[Rad]

Steve's Mini Bus and Tours at Campbelltown
Here is a picture of the vehicle from elsewhere on this site
http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... 74#p530941

[stajourneyman]

Steve's Mini Bus (and Coach Service?) sold the business and name to G + S Buses(?) around 12 months ago with, from memory, a Leopard, an LO812 and a pair of Austral Starliner coaches. They continued to operate them under this name until now from their depot at Bringelly, along with their own fleet of G+S 0305s.

The owner's first name is/was Graham and would be in his late 50s. I note from today's Sunday Tele that the driver who was tragically killed in the accident was named Graham (Lees) aged 57. Draw from this what you will..

[Volvo Super Olympian]

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[AL]

Steve's Mini Bus (and Coach Service?) sold the business and name to G + S Buses(?) around 12 months ago with, from memory, a Leopard, an LO812 and a pair of Austral Starliner coaches. They continued to operate them under this name until now from their depot at Bringelly, along with their own fleet of G+S 0305s.

The owner's first name is/was Graham and would be in his late 50s. I note from today's Sunday Tele that the driver who was tragically killed in the accident was named Graham (Lees) aged 57. Draw from this what you will..

Very sad to hear that.

It's probably just over 12 months now that Steve sold out, but he still runs around as Steve's Bus and Coach with one ex-AAT Kings Volgren Scania K124.

[boronia]

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/manager-mecha ... uu9sg.html

[burrumbus]

Good afternoon everyone.
Steve's Mini Bus and Tours is and still is Steve Golding.Steve sold the school charter and mini bus operation of his business to G & S Mini Bus Pty.Ltd.,Bringelly in early 2009.This was the Lees family.This included TV 3574.
Steve Golding retained an ex ATT Scania K124EB/Volgren to operate as a single coach operator.Steve operates a high quality small operation.
If you go to the NSW Fleetlists section you will find Steve's operation in the current Sydney charter operator section and G & S Mini Bus in the former Sydney charter section.
Hope this helps.

[stajourneyman]

I now the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, but to hit these blokes with manslaughter charges seven years later is a bit rich.

I'm not necessarily saying that they don't deserve them, but what takes seven years to investigate?

[Roderick Smith]

March 23 2017 Bus in fatal Kangaroo Valley crash 'failed brake inspection days before': court .
A tour bus that plunged into a ravine near Kangaroo Valley in 2010, killing its male driver, had failed its RMS brake inspection 10 days earlier, a court has heard.
Driver Graham Lees, 58, died and 28 of his passengers were injured after the bus careered out of control and crossed to the wrong side of Moss Vale Road on Barrengarry Mountain on May 14, 2010.
A tour bus plunged into a ravine near Kangaroo Valley in 2010, killing its male driver. Photo: Scott Webster .
Mr Lees, the proprietor of the bus company G&S Minibuses Bringelly, yelled at his passengers to "brace yourself!" as the vehicle crashed through a metal road barrier and 40 metres down a steep embankment, coming to rest in dense bushland.
A subsequent police investigation found the rear brakes on the bus had catastrophically failed.
Emergency services carry an injured passenger from the tour bus in May 2010. Photo: Orlando Chiodo .
Court documents reveal the bus failed its mandatory bi-annual inspection on May 3, 2010, resulting in operations manager Simon Lees, the son of the victim, having the company's in-house mechanic work on it.
It is alleged the mechanic adjusted the rear brake units instead of replacing them, leaving the brakes "in a decrepit and dangerously defective condition".
Lees claims he then took the vehicle to Picton mechanic and authorised heavy vehicle inspector Stuart Lewry to approve the work. Lewry signed a declaration saying he had inspected the vehicle and was "satisfied ...the defects have been properly rectified".
However, police will allege Lewry never inspected the bus and had simply signed off on its road worthiness after Lees assured him the problems had been fixed.
Police allege mechanic Stuart Lewry never inspected a bus that crashed 10 days later. Photo: Illawarra Mercury .
A witness allegedly overheard a phone conversation between Lees and a man identified as "Stuart", in which Lees said "I've got a bus that's just been defected, it needs to be cleared for tomorrow, we've adjusted the brakes and everything's fixed, and it's not a problem".
Following an extensive investigation, police charged Lees and Lewry with a string of offences earlier this month, including manslaughter by criminal negligence, concealing a serious offence, publishing misleading material and perverting the course of justice.
Lewry appeared in Moss Vale court on Tuesday, where his lawyer said he would fight the charges.
"My client is of the view that … anything [he] did, or did not do, did not cause the fatal accident," the lawyer said.
Simon Lees will face the same court on April 18.
Illawarra Mercury http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/bus-in-fatal- ... v4a5z.html

[CCCC]

Well we know who owned the bus at some stage , good reason if you sell a vehicle to also remove your desto roll.
Although Austens were long gone when this accident happened.

[stajourneyman]

...not to mention Steve's Mini Bus ..(the immediate previous owners), whose name is also still on the vehicle.

[Jazzy]

The OTSI report makes for some interesting reading, for those who haven't seen it. http://www.otsi.nsw.gov.au/bus/Investig ... eserve.pdf

[stajourneyman]

I'm sure, for those involved, that it must have seemed like 28 hours rather than 28 minutes waiting for emergency services to arrive.

It seems, based on the report, that this was destined to happen, with this vehicle.

It was just a matter of where and when.

[stajourneyman]

By way of sheer co-incidence, I happened to go through Kangaroo Valley a few days ago.

I timed the distance from the police, ambulance and fire stations in Kangaroo Valley township to the location of the accident on the Mittagong side of the Valley.

In wet weather, and travelling at or below the speed limits, I did the journey in 13 minutes in my car.

I'm a little perplexed by how it took emergency services 28 minutes to arrive at the location.

Sure, it might take a couple of minutes to leave the station, but that would have easily been made up for by the then dry conditions and ability to legally exceed the speed limit.

I'm also a little surprised that the report, that, at times, goes into intricate detail, yet never touched on that basic fact.

[boronia]

What was the mobile phone coverage like in that area now? When I was working down there about 15 years ago there wasn't any, so if anyone did see the accident occur, it could take some time to get back into range.

Kangaroo VAlley would have minimal police, fire and ambo presence, so it may have taken longer for more appropriate services to come from further afield.

[stajourneyman]

The likely absence of any phone coverage there back then would probably be the explanation for the delay.

I mentioned that the report indicated that it took emergency services 28 minutes to arrive on scene.

I also mentioned that it took me 13 minutes to get from Kangaroo Valley township to the accident site recently.

Assuming that a passer-by spent roughly 13 minutes getting to the township, alerting authorities, and those emergency services then taking roughly 13 minutes to arrive on scene, that would just about cover the 28 minutes taken.

I guess, in the absence of mobile phone coverage at the location at the time, 28 minutes is probably the best that could've been achieved.

Nontheless, an agonising amount of time for the injured to have to wait.