A council will admit guilt after three people died on a controversial bus lane.
Their lives could have been saved if the local council had spent a ‘few quid’ on a safety barrier, a grieving relative said on Monday.
Cambridgeshire County Council was accused of penny-pinching as it revealed it would be pleading guilty to charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive.
The 16-mile bus-only route, which links Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives, uses buses steered by external means and is the longest of its kind in the world. A tarmac cycle track and bridleway runs alongside some sections.
The first death was in November 2015, four years after it opened, when Jennifer Taylor, 81, was killed as she crossed the busway on foot with her husband John at Fen Drayton.
The 16-mile bus-only route uses buses steered by external means and is the longest of its kind in the world. A tarmac cycle track and bridleway runs alongside some sections
(Left to right) Jennifer Taylor, Kathleen Pitts and Steve Moir, died in separate incidents on a guided busway in Cambridgeshire
Cyclist Steve Moir, 50, was killed when he clipped the kerb and fell into the pathway of an oncoming bus in September 2018.
Another pedestrian, Kathleen Pitts, 52, was hit by a bus on a section near Cambridge railway station in October 2021.
The following month a teenage cyclist was left with life-changing injuries when he was hit by another bus in Cambridge.
Representatives of the council – which recently revealed it had already spent £617,000 on legal fees and faced another £1million in a trial – are due to appear at Cambridge Magistrates Court on September 12.
But the authority has confirmed it will admit two charges of failing to avoid risks to people not in their employment.
The bus-only route links Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives
Representatives of the council – which recently revealed it had already spent £617,000 on legal fees and faced another £1million in a trial – are due to appear at Cambridge Magistrates Court on September 12
Alistair Moir, 85, the uncle of married father-of-three Steve, took no solace in the announcement, telling the Mail: ‘He was a wonderful fellow. It was a waste of a good life.
‘You’ve got the footpath there and buses go past at 52mph, which is their top speed.
‘There should have been a railing there a long while ago, just something to keep my nephew falling into the way of it. A few quid would have saved lives.’
The HSE announced plans to prosecute last year following an ‘extensive investigation’.
The council subsequently announced a new safety railing was being installed along some sections at a cost of £920,000.
Chief executive Dr Stephen Moir said: ‘The county council has a duty and responsibility to uphold the highest standards of health and safety at work.
‘We fully recognise… that we fell far short of meeting these standards. For that, we are truly sorry.’
An HSE spokesman said: ‘We won’t be commenting publicly until after the matter has been sentenced.’