Coach crash tourists win record payout

Thirty-nine injured British tourists have received a record compensation payout of £14m after their speeding tour bus crashed in the United States.

Several of the passengers were seriously hurt when the coach veered across two lanes, rolled and skidded on its side for more than 200 yards, scraping passengers against the road.

Among the most badly hurt was a 72-year-old woman from Derby, who needed part of both of her arms amputated. Most of the passengers were elderly and were on the 10th day of a 15-day touring holiday when the bus crashed near Tonopah, Nevada, in September 2000.

They were travelling from Las Vegas to the ski resort of Mammoth Lakes with the American coach company California Sun Line, the main defendant. The American driver, Lotfali Rankouh, admitted speeding and was convicted of driving offences.

The compensation package was settled during mediation after a legal wrangle over whether the case should be heard in Britain or the US. The eventual settlement reflected the higher compensation claims awarded by the US courts.

The highest sum awarded was £1.9m, to a passenger whose identity has remained confidential, with amounts falling to £16,000 for those who suffered only minor injuries.

One of the higher awards, for £800,000, went to Howard Wingfield, from Pontyclun, Mid-Glamorgan, south Wales, who was forced to retire from his job as a postman.

When the coach flipped over, Mr Wingfield, 48, fell backwards through the rear window and was trapped between the vehicle and the road. "I saw the bus bearing down on me," he said. "We were still sliding and it came down and squashed me against the road. My head was dragging along. My head was being ground away so I used my arms to push my head away from the ground, otherwise the inevitable would have happened. I would have been dead."

Mr Wingfield was in intensive care for nearly three weeks and has had 14 operations. He lost extensive tissue from his arms, hands and skull and had his left little finger partly amputated.

His wife, Gaynor, who broke three ribs and her collarbone, was awarded £250,000. Both are still receiving counselling. Mr Wingfield said: "If I could turn back the clock so that I was never involved in this accident, I would. It has changed our lives and no amount of money will ever truly compensate for this."

Clive Garner, a partner at the solicitors Irwin Mitchell, who represented a number of the passengers, said the payout was the highest to date for Britons injured in a single incident abroad, though it is likely to be surpassed by the settlement for those involved in the 11 September attacks.