Dibbles Bridge coach crash marked by 'substantial' memorial

The four-tonne stone was sourced from a North Yorkshire quarry

A new memorial to 33 people killed in one of Britain's worst ever coach crashes has been installed ahead of the 47th anniversary of the accident.

In May 1975, a bus carrying day trippers from Thornaby plunged 16ft (5m) off Dibbles Bridge in North Yorkshire when its brakes failed.

All but 13 of the passengers, all of whom were women, were crushed.

Thornaby's mayor said a more substantial and "meaningful" tribute was needed.

Steve Walmsley said the existing plaque in the town centre "didn't reflect the enormity" of the disaster.

He said: "You noticed it on the way to the toilets in the pavilion which wasn't a great tribute.

"We've been on about it for years and we need something as a town that is substantial - not bits and pieces here and there," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Most of the people in the coach were trapped

The visit to the Yorkshire Dales had been organised by Thornaby's lady mayoress, Dorothy White, 62, who died in the crash.

She had been running "Auntie Dorrie's mystery trips" for 30 years.

The Bedford coach careered down a steep bank on the road from Pateley Bridge to Grassington and hurtled through the parapet of Dibbles Bridge, landing on its roof.

The driver, Roger Marriott, was also killed.

The rescue of survivors took two and a half hours and involved more than 100 ambulance staff, firefighters, doctors, nurses and police officers.

The coach landed on its roof in a garden killing 32 women and the driver

A four-tonne stone memorial sourced from a nearby North Yorkshire quarry has now been installed outside Thornaby Town Hall.

A plaque will be unveiled on 27 May, 47 years after the accident.

Survivors, the families of the dead, and those who helped, including three men from Hull who were first on the scene, are expected to attend the commemoration.