Bus driver Jack Aston sued over Montague Street Bridge crash

Ten months after he was jailed for crashing a bus into the Montague Street Bridge, driver Jack Aston walked free. Now he’s being sued.

A passenger seriously injured when driver Jack Aston ploughed his bus into the Montague Street Bridge is suing him for negligence five years after the horror crash.

Sharon Raysin, 63, was in Melbourne from the US for a work conference when Mr Aston missed the warning signs about the notorious low-level bridge in Melbourne’s CBD on February 22, 2016.

A woman cries in pain as she is taken away by ambulance. Picture: Ian Currie

She was one of six passengers injured when the bus slammed into the bridge with such force it pushed the roof back to the fifth row of seats.

Ms Raysin was trapped in her seat until emergency services could free her.

She was then rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she underwent CAT scans of her head, neck, back, chest and abdomen and pelvis.

She suffered a fracture in the middle of her back, requiring surgery, and multiple breaks to her left ankle.

A laceration next to her left eye also had to be stitched.

Ms Raysin says she now suffers vertigo, and memory and concentration difficulties.

She can no longer work with her injuries forcing her to give up her US$115,000 annual income at travel company Rovia LLC.

The scene of the crash at the Montague Street Bridge in South Melbourne in 2016.

In a writ filed with the Supreme Court, Ms Raysin claims Aston failed “to keep any, or any proper lookout” in the lead-up to the crash.

“The collision was caused by the negligence of the defendant in the driving, management and control of the bus,” she said.

Sharon Raysin’s claim outlines a series of failures by Aston, including:

• Driving a 3.8m-high bus under the bridge, which only had a 3m clearance

• Not observing the presence of the bridge, traffic signs or red flashing lights warning of the low height clearance

• Approaching the bridge at a speed of up to 56km/h

• Going too fast in the circumstances, including it being his first time driving in the area

• Failing to apply the brakes on the bus adequately, or at all, in time to avoid the collision

Ms Raysin claims the collision was caused by negligence.

Aston, 58, was an experienced bus driver in Ballarat but it was his first time driving that route in Melbourne. He was jailed for five years and three months after a jury found him guilty of six counts of negligently causing serious injury.

He was ordered to serve at least 2½ years before being eligible for parole.

The trial heard he failed to notice five warning signs, with the first 290m from the bridge stating there was a low bridge ahead with a 3m height clearance and that high vehicles should detour.

A sensor perched 81m from the bridge also picked up that the bus was too high, activating flashing lights on the bridge.

Bus driver Jack Aston walks free after a Supreme Court appeal hearing. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A later appeal found there was a substantial miscarriage of justice during his trial when the prosecution did not declare there was an alternative charge of dangerous driving causing serious injury which carries a lesser penalty.

Aston’s convictions were quashed and he was resentenced on six counts of the alternative charge to 305 days of time he had already served in prison.

He was released and ordered to undergo a two-year community corrections order.

Outside court, as a free man, Aston was elated, but apologised to his victims.

“I’d like to say sorry to all my passengers,” he said.