Coach crash driver drink probe

Sep 4 2007 By Emma Cullwick And Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

A BIRMINGHAM coach driver was today being quizzed by police on suspicion of drink driving after a motorway crash left six people seriously injured and dozens wounded.

The driver, operating out of Digbeth Coach Station, was also arrested for dangerous driving after being cut free from the wreckage of the single-decker coach.

The Birmingham to Stansted service overturned after clipping a kerb and hitting a lamp-post before smashing into a tree.

Survivors of the smash, including 15-year-old Birmingham schoolgirl Jaiden McClaine, today spoke of their terror. Passengers said the coach swerved from side to side, "going fast around corners" before crashing as it entered Newport Pag-nell services on the M1 in Buckinghamshire shortly after 4pm yesterday.

A total of 33 passengers on the 777 service, which left Birmingham's Digbeth Coach Station at 2pm and was travelling to Luton and Stansted airports, were rescued. Six were seriously injured, while 11 needed hospital treatment for their injuries and 13 suffered minor injuries.

Passengers included people returning from their holidays who caught the coach which stopped at Birmingham International and Coventry airports.

Today, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police confirmed: "The driver of the coach, a man, has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and dangerous driving.

"Collision investigators are today continuing to examine the scene."