I stumbled upon today’s case in much the same way as I have any other, by accident, by something I’ve randomly seen or been directed to. But the focus of today’s episode come from the most innocuous of places – because I stumbled on the Raglan bus crash while I was walking my dog.
I was in Aberdare Park, a beautiful location settled in the town of Aberdare in the Cynon valleys, when I walked past a bench. It wasn’t a new bench and it was one that I’d walked past on numerous occasions. But for some reason, on this particular day, it really captured my attention.
I’d recently read about an interesting murder that had happened in the same park in 1948 – one about which there will be a future episode – and I briefly wondered if that was the benches dedication. It wasn’t and instead, it was dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Raglan bus crash.
Taking place in 1995, in South Wales, the crush resulted in the deaths of 10 people, while a further 30 were injured.
In today’s episode, we’re telling the story of the Raglan bus crash and how it was allowed to happen.
It was the 4th of July 1995, on what should have been the height of the summer season, the perfect time for a coach party outing. The weather was beautiful, it was a sunny, dry day.
The bus left Aberdare that morning and was travelling to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a day of sightseeing in Shakespeare’s County.
A witness to accident told the police that he believed the bus had been travelling at a speed on approach to the roundabout and that the driver appeared to have lost control.
One witness, Stephen Smith from Blackheath, West Midlands, reported to the Independent that:
"The coach looked to be going pretty quickly when it approached the roundabout. I saw it hit the kerb and start to go over on its side. I lost sight of it then as it ploughed into the trees on the roundabout island. Then there was a bang and a cloud of dust."
The bus itself had landed on its side, with trees which were planted on the roundabout breaching the confines of the bus.
Nigel Watkins told The Herald that: ''The coach had tipped over into the trees and they had all gone through the side of the coach trapping the passengers. Others were in a really bad way and were trapped by the trees inside the coach.''
The police would later explain that the bus had landed on its side before spinning in the operation direction.
In media coverage following the incident, police would report that the bus had been involved in a ‘minor collision’ prior to the actual accident. But that this initial collision wasn’t believed to have contributed to the accident on the roundabout near Raglan castle.
Those who assisted with the rescue efforts would later recount the horrific scenes that confronted them as they attempted to assist the victims. Many of whom were screaming from inside the wreckage.
One of the first witnesses on the scene was pensioner, George Plowman of Fairfax View, Raglan, he told The Herald that:
'I heard a loud bang and rushed from my garden and I was joined by men from the roadworks site and we tried to comfort the passengers as best we could. The coach driver was lying on the ground, totally shell-shocked. Many others were lying around him, covered in blood.''
Another witness, John Crump, told the Independent that: “It just didn’t look like a coach.”
Another witness, Corporal Marty Hall, an instructor with a part of Royal Engineers who was driving at the time of the accident also reported the tragic scene before them:
"We tried to help those trapped but some died as we looked on. Others were walking over bodies to try to get out while some were so shocked, they didn't move."
In the wake of the incident, 9 of the Army apprentices who were with Corporal Hall, were to be praised for the considerable effort their exerted in assisting the injured. They, along with their three instructors, assisted in pulling some of the injured from the vehicles.
One of the instructors, Corporal Chris Collett, told The Herald that:
'There were people obviously dead in the wreckage and others walking around badly-injured or dazed. I did what I could to organise what help was around.
''All the apprentices performed magnificently. They are on a two-week leadership course but obviously did not expect to be confronted with anything like this. We tried to keep them away from the worse of the mayhem, but we shall be keeping a close eye on them after this trauma.''
It took the fire fighters toughly two hours to cut the injured free and the air ambulance also attended the scene. The passengers who were wounded walking, assisted with medical efforts and there are several images of them assisting the gravely injured.
In total, 25 passengers were cut free by fire fighters specialist equipment with the more seriously injured being flown to hospital by helicopter. While a fleet of 21 ambulances dealt with the remaining casualties.
In total, 8 had died at the scene, 32 were taken to hospital including the driver and a further 2 were die later.
The driver’s name was Mr Crisp, he was 30-years-old and had been a coach driver for 6 years. However, this was his first week of working for Lewis Coaches, local business based in Aberdare, South Wales. The vehicle he was driving was seven years old and amongst the passengers were Mr Crisp’s wife and two-year-old son. They both survived the incident.
The driver himself was said to have been mildly injured, with shock said to have been the ailment for which he required the most treatment.
Many of the passengers were from the St David’s Day Centre in Aberdare, an institution that assists those who have just been released from psychiatric care, or those that are still undertaking treatment. A number of staff from that institution were also in attendance, along with some of their relatives. The remaining passengers were made up of people from other day care or old people’s homes within the Cynon Valleys.
For that reason, the ages of the passengers varied greatly, with the youngest said to have been 2 and the oldest over 70.
Other than the wide array of ages, very little else is known about the victims. What we do know is that no children were killed and that there were 8 women and two men. Of these 10, two of them were social workers.
The social workers were named publicly as Derek Broadstock who was 44 and Christine Extence who was 45. Both worked for the Mid Glamorgan County Council and were working with passengers upon the bus.
For most of us, 1995 feels like a distant memory, but in many ways, it was a world away from where we are now. While the technological revolution had already started to take hold, mass consumption of technological devices wasn’t yet on the horizon. Our understanding of human rights, social justice and safety guidelines was in its hay day.
The bus involved in the accident feels pre-historic by today’s standards, as it wasn’t fitted with seat belts – a basic safety feature that most of us now take for granted. In fact, it wasn’t until 2001 – six years after the crash – that compulsory seat belts in buses became the law.
As a result of a contemporary lax regard for safety, a number of those who died were thrown through the windows. Many of them then crushed as the bus rolled over them.
The Raglan bus disaster came in the wake of several other similar incidents and safety campaigns added it to an ever-growing list of reasons why they were fighting for reform. Just one day before the Raglan bus crash, 75 people. Had been injured in North Wales, when 2 coaches collided on the M3. In this incident 13 members of the Royal British Legion were killed.
The Raglan crash further strengthened the argument of those who were pushing for safety reform. Campaigners were seeking to ensure that seat belts were made compulsory on coaches but also that the roofs on such vehicles were reinforced.
The Consumers' Association said: "The tragedy today is yet another example of why lifesaving seat belts must be fitted urgently in all coaches and minibuses.
The Conservative government of the time said that seat belts for coaches carrying children would be introduced in 1006 but that legislation to insist on them in all such vehicles would have to await agreement by the European Union.
At this point, I could probably take a guess at what it is that your thinking, because from was outlined at the beginning of this episode, it sounded as if there could be some culpability on the part of the driver.
After all, the seat belt situation was out of his control, but it was reported that the bus had been going at a speed.
The police seemingly agreed, as Mr Crisp was eventually to be tried for the Raglan bus crash.
But he wasn’t the only one.
In the weeks following the crash, a number of concerns were identified, and, in the end, both the driver and the coach owner were seen as responsible.
The police charged Phillip Crisp for dangerous driving, suggesting that he’d approached the roundabout too fast and that he’d failed to change his gears correctly.
His defence was the exact reason why the coach owner, Ronald Lews, was fined – as he claimed that his breaks had failed. The police must have found evidence to suggest that this part of the story was true, as Ronald Lewis was fined £750 for operating a vehicle with defective brakes, a faulty speed limited and two tachograph offences.
However, despite this, they still charged Phillip Crisp, suggesting that aside from the brakes failing, he had still approached the roundabout too quickly.
The jury didn’t agree and on the 22nd of May 1997, Phillip Crisp was found not guilty of the charges.
In the wake of the disaster, a local festival was cancelled, and a fund was established to assist the survivors. Additionally, a survivors group was created.
For the survivors, the battle was only just beginning, because in 1999, the BBC reported that the survivors were still waiting for compensation.
Those who did survive were left with several serious injuries and some suffered with the mental effects of what they had experienced.
One of the survivors, Pearl Williamson, spoke to the BBC about the fight for compensation.
She had suffered from spin and rib fractures and had repentantly lost the sight in one of her eyes because of the accident. At the time, she was offered £35,000.00 and had received the money, but many others were still waiting.
The BBC also reported that the survivors still sought support from each other and that twice a month, they met to discuss the challenges that they were facing.
The final footnote in this story returns to the bench which started this episode.
In 2015, Wales Online reported that survivors had been left angry, after it was realised that the bench had been damaged by vandals.
In this article, it was revealed that Aberdare Park had been chosen as the location for the memorial bench because of its peaceful and serene location. It’s also the town from which the bus set off that morning.
It’s designed to be a place of poignant reflection and peace, but just before the 20th anniversary of the crash, the plaques on the bench needed to be renewed. This was because of graffiti that the vandals had left on the original ones.
In the article for Wales Online, Joanna Williamson-Price - one of the survivors, recounted expressed her disappointment, revealing that it wasn’t the first time such an act had been committed.
She told the publication that the tree which sits inside the square bench had also had to be replaced previously, due to a significant amount of damage that was done to it. Then, in about 2010, the plaques were stolen.
Joanna was just 17 when the incident happened, and she’d been on the bus with her disabled mum.
The bench is not the only memorial, and a second plaque also sits inside of Aberdare library. This one lists the names of the victims and was accompanied by a remembrance book at the time that it was erected.
At the time that Wales Online reported the latest damage to the memorial bench, the council had pledged to replace the damaged plaques.
Based on the fact that their plaques on the bench when I saw it recently, it seems that the council did follow through with this promise.
The Raglan bus crash was a tragedy that helps reiterate the importance of health and safety measures, what sometimes feels like a restriction or red tape, can often be what saves lives.
Having sat here, researching this article for a few hours, it’s fair to say that I will never forget what I’ve learnt. And next time I visit the park, which will likely be tomorrow because it’s my dogs favourite, I’ll spare a thought for the bench that I’ve so often overlooked. But specifically, for those who’s lives were taken and the families that were left in their wake.
References
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/daytrip-coach-crash-kills-eight-1590009.html
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/gallery/20-years-raglan-coach-crash-9464113
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12099214.eight-die-in-coach-crash-eight-die-as-bus-crashes/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/coach-driver-cleared-after-crash-1263067.html
https://www.lgcplus.com/archive/social-workers-named-among-gwent-coach-crash-dead-07-07-1995/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/528862.stm
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/survivors-outrage-heartless-vandals-deface-9465579
