A STOURBRIDGE man whose wife was left severely brain damaged after she was hit by a bus which mounted the pavement has spoken of his disgust and dismay at the sentence meted out to the driver.
Steve Davies witnessed the horrific moment his wife of 39 years, Deborah, was “swept” off the pavement as the couple and their four-year-old grand-daughter walked to an estate agents in Church Street, Stourbridge, on May 20 last year to complete the purchase of their new home.
Deborah, who was an active 55-year-old grandmother, suffered catastrophic brain injuries - needing part of her skull replaced with a metal plate, as a result of the crash which has left her entirely dependent on her husband and family.
A five-figure interim payment from the insurers of West Midlands bus company Diamond Ltd has since been secured to help fund the cost of Deborah's immediate care and support needs after her husband Steve, aged 58, instructed serious injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the crash.
But the family has been left incensed at the sentence dished out yesterday (March 9) at Birmingham Magistrates Court to bus driver Surjeet Singh Pal, aged 57, from Waterside Close, Wolverhampton,
The 57-year-old driver, who is believed to have been driving towards a bend in the road (pictured below) when he inexplicably mounted the pavement, was fined £175 for careless driving and banned from driving for six months for the offence.
Causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison but there is no provision in law for the offence of causing serious injury by careless driving, regardless of whether the victim’s quality of life has been severely diminished.
Grandmother-of-five Deborah, now aged 56, can no longer be left alone as a result of the devastating incident or care for her grandchildren as she did, or visit close friends regularly or even walk her miniature schnauser, Archie, as she did before she was injured - pictured below.
Steve said: “Deborah has gone from being a vibrant and vivacious young grandmother to being solely dependent on me and our family.
“Last year we were moments away from a new home and were looking forward to a very happy rest of our lives together surrounded by our grandchildren. Now Deborah is merely existing.
"She has such a poor quality of life compared to the one she planned for and we built together. She is living a life sentence while the man who did this to her can put everything behind him and continue living his life.
“I am disgusted and dismayed that there is no provision in law to adequately reflect the catastrophic, irrevocable damage this incident has done, both to Deborah physically and to our lives as a family.”
Deborah suffered a terrible brain injury and blood clot on the brain as a result of the crash and had to undergo lifesaving surgery and extensive rehabilitation. She also sustained a broken neck, fractured cheek, broken ribs and a punctured lung.
She was, initially, treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where she was placed into an induced coma for about a week because of the severity of her injuries, and she eventually returned home in October 2016 while she awaited a craniotomy to replace the missing part of her skull with a metal plate.
Rebecca Hearsey, an expert serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing Deborah, said: “Five months after the accident which almost claimed her life, Deborah was allowed to return home but only if she wore a padded helmet to protect her fragile skull.
“Every day remains a struggle for her. And her life now will be constantly punctuated by hospital appointments, therapy, carers and rehabilitation. The driver’s sentence does not reflect the severity of what happened and it is easy to see why Steve and his family are so dismayed that the punishment simply does not fit the crime.
“While the sentence ultimately can’t do anything to change what has happened to Deborah, Steve and his family feel that it also does nothing to encourage drivers to exercise greater caution behind the wheel. He hopes that releasing photos of Deborah before and after the crash will instead serve as a warning to drivers that their actions can have catastrophic consequences.”
Although Steve went ahead with the purchase of the new home he'd been buying with Deborah, her prognosis means the couple may ultimately need to move into an adapted house.
Driver Surjeet Singh Pal will be able to reapply to DVLA for his driving licence following the six-month ban.
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