AN INQUEST into the death of bus driver Frank Dean, who was crushed between a gatepost and a wall during a strike, has found he was killed accidentally.

Family and friends of Mr Dean wept as the verdict of accidental death was read out at the end of the emotional three-day inquest at Ribble Valley Town Hall, Clitheroe.

Mrs Karen Hatfield, Mr Dean's daughter said: "All the family are in pieces. I have lost a best friend as well as a father and it's killing me."

The court had heard that protesters had tried to obstruct non-union drivers manning the Stagecoach Ribble buses throughout the one-day strike over pay on December 14.

When the convoy of seven buses returned to the Quarry Street depot, Blackburn, at 6.30pm, the drivers, who did not know the area, took a wrong turn due to a mix-up with the police and had to make a tight left hand turn into the depot.

Mr Dean, 50, of Town Walk, Blackburn, was standing by the gatepost as an official picket when the buses edged past the crowd of protesters. Driver Robert Parkinson, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was unnerved by a picket banging on his window, opening the rear emergency door, and pressing the emergency stop button. He told police he did not realise he had misjudged the turning until he hit the wall, and did not know anyone had been injured.

After the inquest, Mrs Hatfield, of Barnsley, Yorkshire, said she knew Mr Parkinson hadn't intended to hurt anyone but he should have stopped the bus.

She said: "That driver knew he could not get into that gate, he admitted it. He knew there were people on his left side.

"I want to hate him but I know he's only human. We all make mistakes, but this was one mistake that could have been avoided if he had just thought about what he was doing."

Mrs Hatfield said her father would be remembered with love by everyone who knew him.

She said: "He was the life and soul of the party. He might have been only 50 but he lived a full life. He never hurt anybody. When there's so many bad people out there, why did it have to happen to him?

"I have got two little boys and they miss their granddad but when they grow up they won't remember him."

Mr David Kitchen, a lawyer representing Mr Dean's partner Susan Duffy and injured picket Alan Bednall, said they were considering suing Stagecoach Ribble and the police. He said: "There's a distinct possibility that civil action will be taken. It is clear that there was a misunderstanding or breakdown in communications about the intended route back to the bus depot."

Mr Michael Chamber, managing director of Stagecoach Ribble, was unavailable for comment but the company's lawyer, Mr Ian Jones, said nobody had intended the accident to happen.

He said: "I cannot begin to comprehend the pain and the grief that the family must have endured over the past two days. We would like to express our sincere and real sympathy."

Detective Inspector Tony Harling, of Blackburn police, said: "The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone. It was simply a tragic accident."

Acting Coroner Michael Singleton praised the behaviour of witnesses and family during the inquest. He added: "I extend my sympathy to his family and to all those people whose lives have been forever affected by what happened that night at the gates of Quarry Street."

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