London Evening Standard/Paris
The British driver of a coach which crashed in France, killing a teacher and leaving a girl in a coma, was yesterday facing a manslaughter charge.The 47-year-old driver, who has not been named, is suspected of falling asleep at the wheel and also of “involuntarily causing injuries” as he drove a party of 29 children home from a skiing holiday.As tributes were made to maths teacher Peter Rippington, 59, who died, the parents of 13-year-old victim Suzie Warner were keeping a vigil at her bedside.The group was returning from a half-term trip to Italy’s popular Valle d’Aosta region on two coaches owned by Solus Coaches, based in Tamworth, Staffordshire.The coach carrying girls from Alvechurch Middle School in Worcestershire swerved and hit a crash barrier before rolling into a ditch at 3am on Sunday. Suzie is one of 11 still in hospital following the accident. Six are seriously injured. As her parents flew to her side at the Necker children’s hospital in Paris, her brother Joseph-Stanley Warner urged people to pray for her and revealed that she is undergoing emergency surgery. A spokesman for the hospital said she was in a “stable” condition, although she is understood to have severe spine injuries. Meanwhile, initial tests on the coach driver, who received minor injuries, showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.Prosecutors have ordered an investigation of the coach’s tachograph to see if he had complied with EU driving hour regulations. Police were on duty at all three school entrances as children arrived. Children were being offered counselling and there were notes of sympathy attached to dozens of bunches of flowers left around a flagpole inside the grounds. One note read: “Dear Mr Rip, you will be truly missed. You were a one of a kind teacher and you can never be replaced. You were funny and kind and always made everyone’s day. We will love and miss you forever and always.”