Monkton Combe Heavy Metal Bus Crash - charges

[Six Fiend]

A lot of us will recall this from a little while back having wondered what exactly the driver was up to. Quite a lot it appears:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Driver-Baroness-tou...

The driver of an American rock band tour bus which crashed on the outskirts of Bristol last summer is due to be charged in connection with the incident.
Norman Markus, from Germany, who was seriously injured when his vehicle plunged 30ft off the side of the A36 at the bottom of Brassknocker Hill, is accused of a number of offences.
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These include dangerous driving, using a vehicle with defective brakes, contravening a 7.5 tonne weight limit and not complying with EU regulations on how much rest he should have had.
A total of nine people were hurt in the crash, which happened at Monkton Combe in August, and eyewitnesses described the incident as “horrific”.

Markus had been driving the heavy metal band Baroness from a concert at The Fleece in Bristol, on to their next tour venue in Southampton.

Lead singer John Baizley suffered a broken arm and leg, while drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni were left with fractured vertebrae.
Guitarist Pete Adams escaped with more minor injuries.
All members went on to make a full recovery and the band announced before Christmas that they were ready to start performing again.

Markus himself was one of the most seriously injured and had to stay in Frenchay Hospital, in Bristol, for a number of weeks following the crash, and needed surgery on his pelvis.

Senior prosecutor Andrew Walters, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said it had been a complex investigation and his team had been working with Avon and Somerset Police’s collision investigation unit throughout.
He said the full list of charges also included using a vehicle in a condition likely to cause danger of injury and driving otherwise than in accordance with driving licence, specifically that he allegedly had no category D entitlement, which covers buses and coaches.

A summons has been sent to Markus at his home in Germany and an initial hearing is scheduled to take place at Bath Magistrates Court in April.

[ewenm]

"Crashed on the outskirts of Bristol" Interesting wording given it happened on the far side of Bath from Bristol, nice ThisIsBristol angle

Those of us local to it were confused at the time why the bus was coming down that hill rather than taking the main road. It appears the police want to know why too.

[Six Fiend]

I think Magor services on the M4 over the bridge is closer to the outskirts of Bristol

This Is Bristol / Evening Post standards are at their usual level...

[Yertis]

Bath is just a suburb of Bristol though, so you can see why they worded it in that way.

[_Batty_]

Yertis said:

Bath is just a suburb of Bristol though, so you can see why they worded it in that way.

Well indeed. Makes Clifton look like a tramps armpit though
We pass the junction everyday, made a decent effort to get down to the canal! Brass knocker hill in a lorry steep old bugger!

[Keep it stiff]

If you look at where he went over the edge you can see he made half way round the corner, very fortunate of course not to have taken cars out at the same time. I suspect he was just blindly following sat nav and ignoring the signs & common sense. It was a long old drop.