Man killed in Tarring coach crash

A paperboy narrowly escaped as the coach came speeding towards him in Church Road, but it crushed his paper trolley.

At around 2pm the 53-seater coach, owned by Crawley Luxury Coaches based in Stephenson Way, Crawley, smashed through the side wall of the flats after hitting several lampposts and a wall along the way, including one in Melrose Avenue, Maybridge.

The victim, a man from Brighton who has not been identified, is thought to be the coach driver. The police helicopter and tracker dogs were orginially sent out to search for the driver when it was suspected he had run off following the accident. The search was soon called off.

Neighbour John Fenton, 44, said: "I was first on the scene and I climbed inside the coach to try to find the driver. I could not find anyone on the coach. I later found some poor chap under the back wheels '“ he had been squashed by the coach.

"I checked for a pulse but I could not find one.

"After it had happened a woman who was following the coach in her car said the coach was being driven erratically for some time."

Children at Thomas A'Becket School First School had been on a school trip and worried parents thought the accident may have involved a coach carrying their children. The school, in Bellview Road, put up a notice saying: "The coach involved in the crash is nothing to do with our school trips."

Chief inspector Russ Whitfield, of Worthing Police, said at the scene of the accident: "It appears the coach was being driven erratically and at some point something happened to make the driver crash into the building."

He would not confirm whether the dead man was the driver.

Firefighters searched the building to make sure no-one was trapped inside the coach or the building, which was badly damaged. The resident and her son were out at the time.

The coach was removed from the flats yesterday evening, leaving huge holes in the building walls.

For the full story and more pictures see the Worthing Herald on Thursday, May 20.