Minehead bus crash victim died from head injuries on way home from school zoo trip, inquest hears
Oliver Price was killed when the vehicle left the A396 at Cutcombe Hill near Minehead, Somerset, and slid down a 20ft slope on 17 July.
The bus had been carrying 60 to 70 pupils and staff from Minehead Middle School, who were returning from a trip to Exmoor Zoo days before the end of term.
A number of children involved in the crash were discharged from hospital over the weekend, while two children and three adults remain in hospital.
The crash happened between Wheddon Cross and Timberscombe at about 3.15pm last Thursday.
The vehicle left the road, overturned and came to rest about 20ft from the road, down a steep slope.
An off-duty firefighter travelling behind the coach was able to start freeing passengers immediately.
During a brief opening hearing at Somerset Coroner's Court at Wells Town Hall it was confirmed Oliver had suffered fatal head injuries.
Vanessa McKinlay, the assistant coroner for Somerset, read the evidence of identification from coroner's officer Ben Batley.
'Oliver's death was confirmed at 5pm on July 17 by the attending paramedic at the A396 at Timberscombe, near Minehead,' the statement read.
'The brief circumstances of the death are that Oliver was a student of Minehead Middle School who was being taken back to Minehead by coach with a number of other children and staff having been on a trip to Exmoor Zoo.
'The coach came off the A396 road at Timberscombe into a steep wooded area.
'Oliver was found seated in the coach with his seat belt on. His death was confirmed by the attending paramedic. Oliver's provisional cause of death is head injury pending results of laboratory investigations.'
Ms McKinlay said the inquest has been listed to resume on 14 January 2025 with a one-day hearing to involve evidence from witnesses including the adult passengers on the coach, other witnesses, the coach driver, and specialist collision investigators and vehicle examiners.
'The likely scope of the inquest will be the events of the day prior to the coach leaving the road, the circumstances in which the coach left the road and Oliver's medical cause of death,' Ms McKinlay said.
'I would like to close by offering my condolences to Oliver's family.'
The coach was recovered on Saturday and will now undergo a detailed examination by experts.
Online fundraisers for those affected have raised more than £25,000.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Councils to buy empty homes to house migrants under government plans
Migrants could be housed in empty homes and properties bought by councils under government plans to slash the number of asylum hotels. Ministers are seeking to partner with councils to buy or lease houses and vacant properties around the UK in which to place asylum seekers, amid rising anger at the use of hotels for migrants. They are proposing pilot schemes where the Government could pay councils to buy or renovate property, which they would lease back to the Home Office to house asylum seekers. Another model would see empty homes brought back into use for both local homeless people and asylum seekers. Government data show there are some 700,000 empty homes across England, including some 93,600 in London and 35,000 in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Officials are also targeting former tower blocks, student accommodation and old teacher training colleges for use as 'medium-sized' sites where dozens of asylum seekers could be housed. The moves come as police are braced for fresh protests against asylum hotels this weekend, following the 16 arrests for violence at the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, amid anger at an alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by a 38-year-old migrant from Ethiopia. Some 32,000 asylum seekers are being housed in around 210 hotels, according to the latest Home Office data from March. This compares with just under 30,000 in June last year, days before Labour won the election, but down from the peak of 56,000 at 400 hotels in September 2023 at a cost of £9m a day. On Friday, the Home Office announced that asylum seekers face being made homeless if they refuse orders by officials to move out of hotels into alternative accommodation. Hundreds of migrants refuse to be transferred every week, according to the Home Office, which is frustrating attempts to reduce the number of asylum hotels. Some hotels have been forced to remain in use for as few as three migrants due to refusals to move out. Now, asylum seekers will be threatened with losing their taxpayer-funded accommodation and weekly £49.18 allowance if they reject a transfer request for a second time under a new 'firm-but-fair' policy to reduce the number of asylum hotels. The search for alternative accommodation has become a priority as a record 24,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 50 per cent. On top of 80,000 outstanding initial asylum claims in March, there is a growing backlog of 41,000 failed asylum seekers who have appealed against the decision, with many requiring housing. Sir Keir Starmer set out the Government's approach this week, when he told the liaison committee: 'A central focus of what we are doing is what can be built, arranged or taken by councils and repurposed. I am impatient for this change to be driven through. 'We have to take over other accommodation, and we have to drive down the asylum lists. There is no alternative... There is lots of housing in many local authorities that can be used, and we are identifying where it can be used.' Dame Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, told MPs the aim was to 'evolve' away from a 'commercial' approach using private accommodation contractors to a 'more democratically accountable' system in partnership with local councils. It comes ahead of 'break' clauses next year where the Home Office could end its reliance on three contractors – Clearsprings, Mears and Serco – to find accommodation for asylum seekers. Around 200 councils have 'expressed interest' in running pilot schemes partnering with the Government. 'The pilots are looking at various ways to provide accommodation, for example, putting a grant to local authorities and leasing back the property. There are elements of: could we give grants to remediate void properties?' said Joanna Rowland, the Home Office's director general for customer services. 'Is there a support-only option, so we are not providing accommodation? There are a lot of ideas, but we will need those pilots to give us an evidence base for how we might want to move forward.' Dame Angela said: 'Maybe some of the things that we develop will go to supporting local temporarily homeless people from the area in exchange for having some of the things we develop available for our own asylum seekers as well. 'It is a kind of co-operative approach, I hope, that will be more sustainable than the situation that we find ourselves in now.' The Home Office has already faced local opposition and delays where it has attempted to set up 'medium-sized' sites. Plans to buy a 27-flat block in Fareham, Hampshire, to house 70 migrants was abandoned after a local outcry. A 9,000-strong petition has also been raised to proposals to put 35 asylum seekers in high-street flats above a vacant shop in Waterlooville in Hampshire, while plans to house almost 700 asylum seekers in former student blocks in Huddersfield have still not gone ahead more than a year after they were first mooted. Powers to seize properties Islington council in north London is, however, going ahead with plans to buy back up to 900 former council houses to house both homeless people and refugees. Angela Rayner, Communities Secretary, is also pushing for councils to get powers to seize properties that have stood empty for more than six months. The current rules only allow councils to take control of a building if it has been empty for two years and plagued by anti-social behaviour. Her department said it was 'pure speculation' to suggest the powers would be used to repossess vacant properties for asylum accommodation. The Home Office said it aimed 'to develop a more sustainable, long-term model of accommodation supply, which may be more locally led, should reduce competition for affordable housing, and help deliver new supply'.
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ex-Lincolnshire PC shared bodycam footage of him tasering man
A former Lincolnshire Police officer who shared bodycam footage of him tasering a suspect during an arrest has been found guilty of gross Packer, who was based in Skegness, sent the footage to a friend, bragging the man had "gone down like a sack of potatoes".He also sent "incredibly offensive" racist messages, used discriminatory language on Snapchat and kept confidential police information on his mobile phone, a misconduct hearing was told.A panel earlier ruled Packer would have been dismissed from the force for gross misconduct if he had not already resigned in March 2024. The hearing at the Nettleham police headquarters, near Lincoln, heard the former officer had tasered a suspect who became aggressive while attending a domestic assault in October uploaded the footage to the police computer system but later accessed and filmed it, before sharing the that month, Packer also shared details about another three people who had been arrested to a friend, including names and a vehicle linked to former officer's actions were deemed to be gross misconduct, breaking the standards for respect and courtesy, orders and instructions, confidentiality, equality and diversity, and discreditable giving his ruling, Chief Constable Paul Gibson described the officer's behaviour as "blatant and premeditated", and said it "undermined confidence" in the who did not attend the hearing, had shown "no remorse", he added. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Devon and Cornwall Police deny crime commissioner's bodies claim
Detectives have denied claims from their own police and crime commissioner that multiple human remains have been found in woodland at the centre of a murder and Cornwall Police said the body of one man had been recovered from woods at Sticker, near St Austell, and no other remains had been and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alison Hernandez told a live streamed meeting on Friday multiple bodies had been Supt Jon Bancroft said: "I can categorically state that we have recovered remains believed to be those of Daniel Coleman only from an area of woodland in Sticker." "No other remains have been located at this scene to date," he and forensic experts have been carrying out extensive inquiries in woodland since the discovery of the body of Daniel Coleman, 43, was Desborough, 39, is accused of murdering Mr Coleman, from St Austell, on a date between June 2 and July 7. He is due back before Truro Crown Court next was answering questions at the Police and Crime Panel meeting when she said: "We have got a huge forensics tent down there and lots of forensics officers, obviously we've found dead bodies in that wood."We're just trying to establish how many there may be at this point in time and whether we are aware of who they are or what might have happened to them. "So we also don't know how long they may have been there, some of them."She has been contacted for a response to the police's denial of her comments. Det Supt Bancroft said: "We currently have three separate murder investigations being conducted in the Cornwall area."I have oversight of all of these investigations at this time, and can confirm they are being carried out independently of each other and are not believed to be added: "It is imperative that we continue to respect the integrity of the formal court process and ensure the administration of justice is not compromised in any way."We hope members of public understand that, for this reason, we cannot comment further on the defendant or the investigation."I would also urge people not to speculate on this case, particularly on social media, and risk prejudicing these proceedings."Publication of material which does so could lead to a criminal offence under the Contempt of Court Act." Police are also investigating the discovery of the body of Lee Hockey, 50, who was found in woodland between Truro and Probus on July 1.A third murder inquiry is under way following a fatal fire at a residential property in Newquay on July body of a man in his 30s was found in the property and a 33-year-old man from Bolton was arrested on suspicion of murder.
