Bus Crash in the snow

BUS CRASH CHILDREN FERRIED HOME BY FARMERS

More than 50 children were ferried home in a fleet of Land Rovers on Thursday after their school bus crashed in snow and ice.

Farmers from Clifton Campville, Harlaston and Haunton came to the rescue of youngsters who were stranded in Statfold Lane- miles from their village homes.

The coach, which had been taking pupils from Tamworth Senior Schools, fell foul of the blizzard conditions and skidded into a ditch late in the afternoon.

But there were no serious injuries and the youngsters piled out of the vehicle into the hospitable farm homes of Mrs. Edna Parkes and Mrs. Joyce Loukes. The ladies, who live at Gorse Farm and the Highfield Farm, Statfold Lane, welcomed the chilled youngsters and treated some to tea and biscuits while others tucked into beans on toast.

And while they were enjoying other creature comforts such as armchair seats around a television, the call went out to worried parents that their children were safe.

That was when the Taskforce of farmers swung into action.

One of them cleared a path over fields to beat the snowdrifts which were making roads impassable, and several others arrived in Land Rovers to take the youngsters home.

The VM coach-hire firm, whose vehicle had earlier crashed, also sent a mini-bus to help transport the children.

One of the farmers, Mr. Brian Bostock, of Home Farm, Clifton Campville, took about a dozen children including his own son and daughter.

WORRIED

“We were getting a bit worried about them when they hadn’t arrived home but we heard where they were in Statfold Lane and decided to go and collect them,” he said.

“I would like to thank Mrs. Loukes and Mrs. Parkes for taking the children in and looking after them so well.

It was very bad weather and I’m glad the youngsters did not have to wait outside after their coach had crashed.”

Another rescuer, Mr. Bill Rowe of Fish Pitts Farm, Harlaston, drove several children to Haunton after collecting his 11-year-old son.

NEIGHBOUR

Mrs Parkes said that her neighbour Mrs Loukes had taken in most of the children.

“I had about a dozen myself and they were all very well behaved, I gave them some tea and sandwiches and was only too glad to help and keep them from a nasty wait outside in the cold,” she said.

The youngsters, who were all home by about nine o’clock, attend the Perrycroft Girls School and Mercian Boys School.

Four days after the accident, workers were still trying to get the coach out of the ditch into which it had skidded.