M49 coach driver 'checked emergency exit before boy fell'

The boy fell from the emergency rear door of the coach onto the M49 last May

A coach driver checked his vehicle's emergency exit hours before a boy fell out of it on a motorway, a court heard.

The boy suffered a broken wrist when he fell onto the M49, near Bristol.

Driver Tudor West and coach owner Keith Jones, both of Bridgend, deny charges relating to dangerous driving after the teenager - part of a rugby team - was injured, on 16 May last year.

Mr West told Bristol Crown Court he had asked the team to wear seatbelts but they "had not put them on".

The court was told the bus had passed its MOT a month before the incident, but as part of the accident investigation it was inspected and "nine defects were identified".

'Put weight against door'

During the hearing, the jury was played a video showing an inspector pushing the coach door "lightly with his hand" before it opened.

But in the court, Mr West acted out his "normal morning routine" on the stand.

He showed the jury how, on the day of the accident, he had opened and closed the emergency rear exit and had then put all of his weight against it.

When asked how he thought the door had opened, allowing the the 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to fall onto the motorway, Mr West said: "I don't know, all I know is that it wouldn't have happened on that morning."

Tudor West denies dangerous driving and driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.

Coach company owner Keith Jones denies permitting the driving of a vehicle in a dangerous condition, and aiding and abetting dangerous driving.

The trial continues.

Coach company owner Keith Jones denies the charges