2004 Ingoldmells bus crash

2004 Ingoldmells bus crash
A Volvo B7TL double-decker bus operated by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire, similar to the one involved in the accident.
Details
Date	11 April 2004
Location	Ingoldmells, near Skegness, Lincolnshire
Statistics
Bus	Lincolnshire RoadCar Volvo B7TL/East Lancs Vyking
Vehicles	2
Deaths	5
Injuries	6

At around 17:00 BST on 11 April 2004, a double-decker bus was involved in a collision with a car and a number of pedestrians outside the Fantasy Island amusement park on Sea Lane in Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire. The accident killed five pedestrians and injured six more.

The bus, a 2001 Volvo B7TL double-decker operated by Lincolnshire RoadCar, was operating a scheduled passenger service between Skegness and Chapel St Leonards when the driver, 50-year-old Stephen Topasna, lost control of the vehicle on Sea Lane in Ingoldmells. The bus veered onto the pavement, striking a number of pedestrians, before swerving back into the road coming to a stop after colliding with a BMW car just beyond a pelican crossing, where it had struck another group of pedestrians.

With five fatalities, the Ingoldmells bus crash was the worst accident involving a bus in the United Kingdom since the M40 minibus crash in 1993. The accident remains the deadliest bus accident in the United Kingdom during the 21st century.

The bus involved in the accident was a three-year-old Volvo B7TL double-decker with East Lancs Vyking bodywork, operated by Lincolnshire RoadCar. The bus was registered Y903 OTL and carried fleet number 903 with Lincolnshire RoadCar. Following the crash, the bus was repaired and re-entered service, re-registered to Y926 OJL and given new fleet number 900 to hide its identity. Following Stagecoach's acquisition of Lincolnshire RoadCar in 2005, the bus gained fleet number 16900 in the Stagecoach national fleet, remaining in service with Stagecoach in Lincolnshire at their Scunthorpe depot until 2014, when it was withdrawn and scrapped due to damage from another road traffic accident earlier that year.

The bus was being driven by 50-year-old Stephen Topasna, from Louth, Lincolnshire, at the time of the accident. Topasna had 30 years' experience as a bus driver, although he had never driven a Volvo B7TL before the journey during which the accident occurred, and a lack of familiarity with the vehicle type was noted as a contributory factor to the accident, leading to the pedal confusion during which the bus accelerated onto the pavement.