20 years ago: M40 minibus crash kills twelve children

Tributes to the crash victims Credit: ITV News Central

At around midnight on Monday 18 November 1993, twelve children from Hagley Roman Catholic High School in Stourbridge lost their lives on the M40, when the minibus they were travelling in crashed into the back of a motorway maintenance vehicle on the hard shoulder.

Their teacher, Eleanor Fry, who was driving the bus, also died.

The children who died were:

  • Charlotte Bligh, 13

  • Ruth Clark, 12

  • Fiona Cook, 12

  • Claire Fitzgerald, 13

  • Louise Gunn, 12

  • James Hickman, 12

  • Adele Howell, 12

  • Anna Mansell, 13

  • Nicola Misiolek, 12

  • Richard Pagett, 12

  • Charlene O'Dowd, 12

The teacher, who had worked all day and then drove and supervised pupils all evening, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the bus.

Patrick Molloy, a motorist from Liverpool, was first on the scene.

He tried to get someone out of the passenger seat but the door was jammed, so he ran to open the rear doors.

He described his experiences:

A second minibus carrying another group of pupils from Hagley High School passed the crash scene and made it home safely to Worcestershire.

The driver, teacher Bernard Tedd, later told how he had a "feeling of dread" that the crashed vehicle on the hard shoulder was the other school minibus, but had decided to continue driving.

A Warwickshire Fire Brigade public relations officer said Tedd had "saved those children from witnessing the worst accident any of us has ever seen".

The Department for Transport said:

Parents of the children killed are continuing to campaign for better child road safety.

Teachers and volunteers can still drive minibuses without having to sit a minibus driving test.