Police released today the driver of a double-decker coach who was arrested after his vehicle overturned on the M4 motorway leaving two people dead. Scores more people were injured - some losing limbs - in the crash, which occurred before midnight on Wednesday as the coach, carrying 67 passengers and two drivers, left the M4 motorway to join the M25.
The driver, a man in his 40s, was arrested by detectives on Thursday on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He has been bailed to return to a police station in Berkshire pending further inquiries. Passenger Peter Grimes described the "mayhem" after the coach overturned as the driver rounded a corner on a slip road.
"I thought to myself right at that moment 'he's not going to make it round this bend' and I braced myself", he told reporters. "As the bus sharply went left, the wheels went up. "It was just mayhem, it was just carnage." Operator National Express has now withdrawn its 12-strong fleet of double-decker coaches from service for safety checks.
"As a precautionary measure we have withdrawn 12 double-decker coaches from service," the company's finance director Nigel Williams said, adding that there was nothing to indicate there was a problem with them. Police said no other vehicle was believed to have been involved in the incident and the coach is being examined by forensic experts.
One of the fatalities was identified as Christina Munro Toner, 76, from Dundee. Officers are still trying to formally identify the other man who died. He is described as oriental, in his mid 20s, and wearing a string necklace with two fish-type emblems. "Despite extensive inquiries, we have at this time been unable we have not been able to identify this man," said Chief Inspector Gill Wootton.
"The man has nothing on him to positively identify him apart from some pictures which may possibly be of him. However we cannot be certain at this time." Doctors who treated the injured said some passengers had been dragged along the ground and had limbs torn off when the coach tipped over.
Twenty-five remain in hospital with 10 described as seriously injured.