Alpine coach crash driver named and praised

16th April 2013

Last modified on May 10th, 2021

The driver has been named as 64-year old Maurice Wrightson from County Durham.

The French transport minister, Frederic Cuvillier, praised Mr Wrightson’s “remarkable courage” when he visited the scene.

Mr Wrightson had saved lives by trying to slow down the vehicle by hitting rocks rather than risk it going over a precipice.

Family and friends have paid tribute to Mr Wrightson using a Facebook tribute page.

Wendy Wrightson described him as “a good man who lost his life far too soon but lost it a hero doing what he did best”.

She wrote: “We lit all our candles last night and chatted fondly about you. You will be a huge miss to many people but I wish you peace and sleep well, you deserve it. I am sure your star will be shining brightly for all to see and see it we all will.”

Steve Wardlaw said: “Everyone who new Maurice liked him. Everyone who met him had a Maurice story to tell. And every Maurice story left you smiling… RIP a legend to us all.”

The passengers have now been flown back to the UK where they were met by family, friends and senior representatives from Skibound.

The accident happened at 13.45 local time on Tuesday afternoon.

It crashed as it came down the steep mountain road from Alpe d’Huez.  It has 21 hairpin bends and is a regular feature of the Tour de France.

It is 65km from Grenoble.

Many had to escape through broken windows.

Over 100 police and firemen were despatched to the scene of the accident.

“There was apparently a problem with the coach’s brakes. The driver seems to have lost control on a steep bend in the road and his vehicle crashed into rocks. It burst into flames,” said a police spokesman.

The injured were taken to local hospitals.

3 people remain in a serious condition in hospital and one is said to be critical.

An investigation into the crash is underway.

We reported on first news of the crash at the time here on PlanetSKI.

The 52 members of staff were returning to the UK after their winter season in the French Alps. The chartered coach began its return journey from Serre Chevalier, stopping to collect staff in Alpe d’Huez.

The planned route would have dropped staff off at four feeder points across England.

These include London Gatwick (24 passengers), Birmingham (7 passengers), Manchester (10 passengers) with the final stop in Newcastle (11 passengers).

The coach was then to return to Classic Coaches, headquarters in Sunderland.

“At the moment, our thoughts are with those who have been involved in the accident and we wish to extend our deepest sympathies to them and their relatives and friends. We would like also to pay a special tribute to the superb work of the French emergency services and the work of the British consulate,” said a spokeswoman from Skibound.

“The exact cause of the accident is as yet not known and we must await the report from the accident investigation team and local authorities in France before any comment can be made. We have made arrangements for an independent safety specialist to be sent to the scene to support the investigation,” she added.

Skibound, that is based in Brighton in East Sussex, has been involved in two other incidents this winter.

A Skibound worker died in Alpe d’Huez after she jumped into a swimming pool late at night. We reported on it here on PlanetSKI.

While in February a 13-year old schoolgirl died after she fell from a chairlift in the Italian resort of Claviere on a trip organised by Skibound. See here for further details.

For the spirit of the mountains