Suspended sentence for bus driver who fell asleep at wheel

May 20, 2019

David James defended a bus driver who fell asleep at the wheel and collided with six other vehicles.

Jonathan Hastings received nine months in prison, suspended for fifteen months, at Manchester Crown Court, after pleading guilty to one count of dangerous driving. Judge Suzanne Goddard QC also sentenced him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and he was barred from driving for two years.

In the accident last October, the bus drifted to the left and hit the kerb before colliding with a car stopped at a red light. The knock-on effect caused damage to six vehicles overall.

Two people were treated for whiplash, but no one was seriously injured.

Hastings had started working shifts with unsociable hours the previous month, David James said, and he was still getting used to them. In the three days before the crash, he had worked from 9.30am until 11.30pm, the court heard.

Mr James said the work had created ‘a chronic tiredness’ which ‘almost becomes part of normal life’.

The story has been covered by the Manchester Evening News and The Daily Mail.