German Police Blame Tyres for Coach Death

German police investigating a fatal coach crash have criticised the “irresponsible” decision to send the British coach to Germany without winter tyres, according to British media reports. The accident resulted in the death of coach hostess Rosie Nolan, who died when she was hurled from the vehicle as it overturned in snowy conditions. The coach was en route to Austria for a ski trip when the accident occurred.

Watford-based Cantabrica Coaches said it was “flabbergasted” at police claims that the coach had the wrong tyres. The Highway Police in Wattenheim had said the coach was only equipped with balding summer tyres. “In the opinion of the police, it is irresponsible to send a bus with such tyres on a trip in the winter,” they said in a statement.

“We are flabbergasted that the police would say such a thing. The company has been operating for 26 years without a serious accident,” company spokesman Simon Posner said, defending his company’s safety record. “It is a modern coach, it has all the safety fittings and it was fully checked before it went,” he said. Another seven Britons were seriously injured in the crash near Grunstadt on the Mannheim-bound stretch of motorway.