Teachers raised alarm over Brett Button’s driving days before crash
Year 5 educators at a school on NSW’s Central Coast were concerned about the driver’s ‘lack of attention’ during an excursion, but the bus operator wasn’t notified until after Sunday’s tragic crash in the Hunter Valley.
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“A lack of attention” is how teachers at Green Point Christian College described bus driver Brett Andrew Button’s driving during a Year 5 excursion.
The children were making the three and a half hour trip from NSW’s Central Coast west to Bathurst, when Button was observed to be “chatting to teachers” rather than focussing on his driving.
“On the trip to Bathurst our teachers raised concerns about the driver and reported them at the end of the trip as per our usual procedures,” principal Phillip Nash told 9 News.
“Their concerns were not such that they felt they needed to contact us on the trip, however.”
The report wasn’t forwarded to the bus operator, Linq, until Wednesday, two days after Button allegedly took the corner on a roundabout too quickly, causing the fatal crash that took 10 lives and left others seriously injured.
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Linq bus operator did not receive complaint notice until after crash
Bus operator Linq told 9 News in a statement that it did not receive notice of the teachers' complaint until Wednesday.
“The concerns raised in the letter had not been brought to our attention until today,” the statement read.
“We have received no other complaints about Mr Button before receipt of that letter. As with all of our drivers, Mr Button was only engaged after he passed an independent driver assessment, and his references were checked.”
The school also provided police with the report to assist with investigations, and it’s expected teachers will be interviewed by police.
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Driver's alleged boast just before Hunter Valley bus flipped
Just after 11:30pm on Sunday, Button drove a bus transporting passengers from the Lovedale wedding of Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell. It overturned on a roundabout on Wine Country Drive, near the Hunter Expressway off-ramp in Greta.
Allegations from witnesses were reported by The Daily Telegraph, saying that bus driver Button was driving dangerously immediately before the accident.
Moments before he lost control of the vehicle, he allegedly said through the bus intercom, “If you think that was fast… watch this.”
Others allege that he told passengers to put on their seatbelts just before the bus flipped.
NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner David Waddell alleged the bus driver was travelling too fast.
“He entered that roundabout driving in a manner that was inconsistent with the conditions,” he alleged to reporters on Tuesday morning.
“Obviously, the speed was too quick for him to negotiate that roundabout, causing the vehicle to fall onto its left side and cause those injuries.”
Button faces 11 charges over the tragic crash including 10 counts of dangerous driving causing death for each victim of the crash, plus one charge of negligent driving.
He appeared before Cessnock Local Court on Tuesday and was released on bail.
The crash is the deadliest on Australian roads in more than 38 years.
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Originally published as Teachers raised alarm over Brett Button’s driving days before crash
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