Corby school bus crash road isn’t on gritting network

A Rodgers coach on its way to Corby Business Academy at about 8.20am crashed into a bus stop, injuring four children.

It is not yet known why the coach crashed and a police investigation into how the accident happened is ongoing.

Road conditions were icy with Northamptonshire County Council’s highways team tweeting the day before that the road temperature in the early hours could be as low as -5.5C.

But Stephenson Way is not on the council’s precautionary or adverse gritting network. It also wasn’t on either network last year, before the authority announced it would downgrade 500 roads to save £475,000.

A county council spokesman said: “The council grits more than 1,543km of roads across the county and has a finite gritting resource which needs to be applied in the most effective way.

“Therefore a gritting network comprising the busiest roads and those linking communities are gritted as a priority.

“Our gritting routes are clearly publicised, but regardless of whether a road is gritted or not, we advise motorists to take extreme care when driving in icy conditions.”

Corby councillor Mark Pengelly, who himself lives in Stephenson Way, says he believes the road should be gritted.

He said: “My view is that where there are bus routes, the road should be gritted.

“There are side roads off main roads that a lot of people travel on, like Stephenson Way.”

He urged the county council to take road safety more seriously and said he had written to them asking them to grit roads in his ward.

Yesterday a police spokesman said the bus driver drove off from the scene. Rodgers declined to comment when approached by the Northants Telegraph.

Today (Friday) a police spokesman said they are still investigating the incident and that no arrests had been made.

Witnesses or anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.