Death crash driver said he ‘pumped the brakes’ but his van wouldn’t stop

A driver accused of causing the death of a six-year-old girl by dangerous driver told police he 'pumped and pumped the brakes' but his flat-bed truck would not stop. Millie Gribble died after being struck by the truck, driven by Stephen Worden, moments after she stepped off a bus in Bilsborrow, near Preston[1]. Her friend and his mum were also seriously injured in the collision on the A6 Garstang Road.

On August 15, 2023, Millie was on the way for a day out at Billy Bob's Diner with her mum and their friends. But shortly after 1pm tragedy struck as the group of five got off the bus. Worden's van drove up the inside of the double decker in an undertaking manoevre, colliding with Millie, the teenage boy and his mum, Preston Crown Court[2] heard.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and transported Millie to Alder Hey Children's Hospital by Air Ambulance. Worden was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and taken to Preston police station where he was interviewed. He told officers he had loaded the truck with bricks the night before and checked the vehicle before setting off from his home in Nateby to deliver the load to a site in Cheshire.

He described himself as a 'very careful driver' and said he was conscious of the heavy load he was carrying on the back of his truck.

As the traffic approached the bus stop heading south, Worden said he saw the bus and the two vehicles behind it slow down and come to a stop. "I'm 100 per cent I put my brakes on," he said. "It just didn't seem to slow down. This was all in a split second.

I made the decision to get out of the way of the vehicles I would have had to run into the back of and go onto the grass verge, because there was nowhere else to go. "Then everything just hit and there was I think a lamppost and a tree. The mirror hit the bus and everything was rickety up and down.

I did bang my head a bit but it was nothing much. "I could see the children and I tried to stop it. I was frantically putting my foot on the brake, pumping it.

It seemed to take forever to stop." The vehicle came to a stop when it collided with a lamppost and Worden called 999 to report the collision. He described the scene as 'heartbreaking and gut wrenching'.

He said: "I'm just so sorry for them kids and their parents. I haven't done anything intentionally. Why would I?

I just don't know what else I can say." Worden, 61, of Cartmell Lane, Nateby, denies causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. However Barbara Webster, prosecuting, said: "As Mr Worden approached the bus stop, he clearly failed to observe the vehicles ahead of him.

He failed to see that they were slowing down and stopped. "He missed any brake lights. He failed to apply his own brakes at anytime during the dangerous manoeuvre he made.

"He swerved to the left. He mounted the kerb. This was at the same time that Millie's mum, Millie and her friends alighted from the bus.

He did not at anytime apply his brakes. "We have video footage that shows he did not even brake as he was on the grass verge before hitting Millie and the others." The prosecution say Worden's driving on August 15, 2023, fell well below that which could be expected from a reasonable and competent driver and caused the tragic death of Millie Gribble.

It also caused serious injury to Millie's friend and his mum in the same collision, they say. The trial continues.

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References

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