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John Lewis, who has received a record £365,000 after being struck by a council vehicle in June 2004 |
Record £365,000 payout to man crushed by school bus
Crash victim calls for better training after four years of ‘agonising hell’
A TRAINEE teacher who was this week awarded a record £365,000 after being crushed by a school bus in Finsbury Park is campaigning for Islington Council drivers to be better trained.
The council finally agreed to pay the money to John Lewis, 32, who was severely injured in the accident four years ago, in an out of court settlement on Tuesday.
Mr Lewis, who has spoken exclusively to the Tribune about his ordeal, needed months of hospital treatment for a broken pelvis and shattered right hip after a school mini-bus backed into him as he stood in front of his own vehicle in Biggerstaff Street in June 2004.
The driver was later found guilty of driving without due care and attention. He received nine penalty points on his licence and a £200 fine – but kept his job.
Mr Lewis discovered under the Freedom of Information Act in April this year that there have been 12 severe injuries involving council vehicles and members of the public over the past five years.
The highest pay-out in these incidents was £86,000 and a total of £380,000 has been paid in compensation, not including Mr Lewis’s own settlement.
“I’ve been through four years of agonising hell,” he said. “And I want to make sure that it doesn’t happen to someone else.”
He is demanding that the council introduce stiffer tests for all its drivers.
“The fact that there have been so many serious accidents involving council vehicles in the past five years shows there is something badly wrong.”
A council spokesman said: “The drivers of all Islington Council’s vehicles take part in very comprehensive externally run training – which includes one-to-one sessions with qualified assessors – before they are able to start working for us.
“Drivers also have refresher sessions at least once a month.
“The safety of our drivers and the general public when our vehicles are being used is of course a priority, but occasionally accidents do happen.
“In these cases, the driver concerned is re-assessed in order to ensure that they posses all the relevant skills required to continue driving on behalf of the council in a safe manner.”
As a result of the accident, Mr Lewis, a former Central Foundation school pupil, who now suffers from osteoarthritis and painful and restricted movement, had to give up his job at Bridge Special School, as well as pastimes including the Territorial Army cadets and sports activities.
He has been told by his surgeon that he will need at least three hip replacements over the course of his life. The procedures will become more and more difficult and he will have to give up work at the age of 55.
A keep-fit enthusiast prior to the accident, Mr Lewis said that as well as the physical pain, he suffered from depression and anxiety which completely ruined his life.
Islington had originally offered £100,000 compensation, which was swiftly turned down.
“I’d been engaged to marry at the time of the accident but I was so shattered that the relationship broke up,” he said.
“I needed counselling to cope with the anger and depression I felt. It wasn’t just that my life had been turned upside down through no fault of my own – it was also because the council didn’t want to accept responsibility.”
He is forever grateful to the children of Bridge School, who visited him with their teachers almost every day for the first month after the accident while he received traction at Whittington Hospital.
“They helped me pull through by being cheerful and putting up their paintings and drawings around the ward,” he said.
Today he has a wife, Anna, a civilian worker with the Met police, who was one of his former carers. They have a one-year-old son and live in Chingford.
He now works for the British Red Cross in Euston, lecturing in health and safety, and at weekends is a St John Ambulance Brigade volunteer. |
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