Court hears elderly pensioner, 77, seriously injured after crash between bus and car in Irvine

The 77-year-old woman was travelling on a double-decker driven by Mark Binmore, 60, when it collided with a car driven by Scott Howat, 20, in Irvine town centre on September 28 last year.

Both men admitted charges of careless driving after the crash at the mini-roundabout in High Street at East Road - with a sheriff believing Howat in particular was responsible for causing the smash.

Two other male passengers also suffered minor injuries.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard last week how Binmore had left the bus stop on High Street to approach the mini-roundabout at East Road at 3.10pm.

At the same time Howat was also approaching the roundabout from a different direction in his white Volkswagen Polo.

As Binmore approached the roundabout, he failed to negotiate the left bend instead taking a straight line approach.

Binmore, of Bridgehousehill Road, Kilmarnock effectively ended up in the wrong side of the carriageway, according to fiscal depute Kirsty Urquhart.

The driver failed to slow down on his approach while Howat, of Irvine’s Piersland Place, failed to give way to the bus at the same time.

That led to a collision between the two vehicles after the bus appeared to Howat’s left.

Binmore had to carry out an emergency stop, throwing the passengers forward.

Police and ambulance crews were called to the scene and the three injured passengers were taken to Crosshouse Hospital.

In addition to a punctured lung and broken ribs, the 77-year-old woman suffered a laceration to the head.

The other two passengers, aged 38 and 21, received a hand injury and a cut to the head respectively.

Both Binmore and Howat pleaded guilty to careless driving at court last week.

Andrew Glencross, defending Howat, revealed to presiding Sheriff Shirley Foran that his client has held a licence since November 2014 and has continued to drive since the accident.

Howat has continued to drive over the last 12 months and has become more experienced, according to Mr Glencross.

The solicitor said: “He’s a young man who’s doing something with his life.

“He’s hoping to go to college to do hotel management and work in the leisure industry. His licence is important to him but not crucial.

“He ought to have given way and it was an error of judgement on his part.”

Representing Binmore, Mr Dean said the bus driver was travelling at 23mph in the 30mph zone at the time of the accident but accepted he should not have cut across the roundabout.

Binmore has kept his job with Stagecoach and, according to Mr Dean, would continue to drive for

the company as long as he held a licence.

He told Sheriff Foran: “He was quite frank with me and said there was space to make the turn but he didn’t.

“Mr Binmore contacted the emergency services and in fairness to Mr Howat he reversed his vehicle so he could open the doors of the bus for people to receive treatment.

“I’m hoping you’ll view this as careless driving at the lower end of the scale.”

When passing sentence, Sheriff Foran said: “There’s a number of factors to balance here.

“Mr Binmore has a great deal of responsibility driving a bus service vehicle but it appears that error alone did not at all result in the collision.

“The fault mainly lies with Mr Howat who gravely miscalculated the approach - that may be down to inexperience.”

She added: “I recognise the very unfortunate injuries but I am going to take the view at the end of the day this was at the lower end of carelessness.

“I think Mr Howat had more responsbility than Mr Binmore did.”

Howat was fined £400 while Binmore was handed a £300 fine.