Bus driver who jumped red light 'changed cyclist's life'

A BUS driver who ran over a teenage cyclist after jumping a red light said he didn’t brake out of concern for his passengers.

- KENNY PARKER

Darren Conroy, 59, failed to stop at a set of lights and ploughed into 17-year old college student Charlie Whitehead as she was cycling across the junction during the evening rush hour, a court heard.

Conroy’s double decker went over both of Charlie’s legs and she sustained a fractured ankle, foot and shattered heel. She also suffered a fractured elbow and scarring from friction burns.

But when the fatherof-one, from Dukinfield, Tameside, was quizzed he said he had to make a ‘split-second decision’ when the lights turned from amber to red and insisted he had to consider his passengers before braking suddenly. Prosecutors said he had ‘ample’ time to stop.