Bus driver admits killing two women waiting at Manchester bus stop after accidentally hitting accelerator

A bus driver has admitted causing the deaths of two women when his double-decker collided with a bus stop after he applied the accelerator instead of the brakes. Baruania Baros, 35, was attempting to manoeuvre his vehicle to the Piccadilly bus station in central Manchester at 9.25pm on July 10, 2022, in order to deploy a ramp to allow a disabled passenger to disembark from his bus.

But in an “unfortunate lapse of concentration” he left the vehicle in gear causing it to lurch forward before mistakenly pressing the accelerator instead of the brake, Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard. The bus mounted the pavement and ploughed into the bus shelter where Joyce Bacon, 60 and Adele Boylin, 55, were standing.

Mrs Bacon, described by her family as a “loving mother, sister and wife” had been waiting with her husband, Ian, after an evening out to the cinema, and mother-of-four Ms Boylin had finished her shift in admin at Manchester Eye Hospital and was on her way home from work. The two women, who knew each other and were stood together, were severely injured, Mrs Bacon died at the scene and Ms Boylin died six months later in hospital due to her injuries.

Baros, of Bentinck Street, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, on Thursday admitted two counts of causing death by careless driving. With his head bowed, he was disqualified from driving immediately after entering his guilty pleas.

JP Monica Sim told him the 12-month maximum jail sentence the magistrates could impose may not be enough and he would have to be sentenced instead by a judge at a crown court. Baros has no previous convictions, a clean driving licence and had shown remorse, the court heard.

Earlier Andrew Hey, prosecuting, told the court Baros drove his bus to the station on his normal route but due to another bus in a bay had to stop at an angle. He left his vehicle in “drive” mode while he tried to deploy the ramp to allow a disabled passenger off his vehicle. But the ramp was too high and so he got back in his cab and when he took the handbrake off which lowers the bus automatically, the vehicle “lurched forward”, Mr Hey said.

Baros tried to apply the brake but instead pressed the accelerator, causing the bus to collide with the women and the bus shelter. Mr Hey said a collision incident report by Greater Manchester Police said the rules are a bus should not be parked in drive but always in neutral before a driver leaves his seat. If he had left the bus in neutral and not hit the accelerator the collision could have been avoided, the report concluded.

Majid Awan, mitigating, said: “Mr Baros is in no way excusing what happened and is extremely remorseful to the family of the victims. It is no more than an unfortunate lapse of concentration. Tragically two members of the public did lose their lives.”

Baros was bailed until his sentencing at Manchester Crown Court on May 2.