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Hannah Francis, 11, and her mother Michelle Bruton. Hannah was killed when a Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bus crashed on Mount Ruapehu in July 2018.
A coroner ordered a bus company to hand over its internal report and other information related to an accident on Mount Ruapehu that killed an 11-year-old girl.
The investigation into the death of Aucklander Hannah Teresa Francis heard from former Ruapehu Alpine Lifts CEO Ross Copland on Friday.
During its evidence in Auckland District Court, it emerged that the company had carried out its own mechanical investigation of the bus following the accident in July 2018.
However, the report has never been made available to the police, Worksafe or the coroner.
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Both police and Worksafe investigated the cause of the accident, but no one has been charged.
Coroner Brigitte Windley said she was “disappointed” to learn of the company’s internal investigation midway through the investigation.
It said it would issue a notice under the Forensic Law to force the company to publish the report and any other relevant information.
Initially, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts’ attorney suggested that the report might be covered by a privilege.
The attorney who assisted the coroner, David Boldt, said that while he had heard of legal privilege, he had not heard of “mechanical privilege.”
SUPPLIED
Hannah Francis, 11, was killed in a bus accident near the Turoa shooting range. (Image provided by parents).
The company will have the weekend to consider its position.
The bus, which was carrying 31 passengers, passed the edge of Ōhakune Mountain Rd, which runs 17 km up Mount Ruapehu to the Tūroa ski slope.
Copland said his reading of the experts’ reports is that the accident was likely caused by the driver repeatedly pumping the air brakes that failed after excessive use.
He said the bus was 24 years old and even though it had over 200,000 km on the clock, it had only traveled a quarter of its useful life.
Copland said the company regularly checked the bus and trained its drivers, even advising drivers in which gear to be on each corner of the road up the mountain.
The driver, who has name suppression, has previously told the coroner that the bus’s footbrake stopped working, and did his best to try to change gears and slow the bus.
He “lost control” of the bus and closed his eyes, he said.
Copland said the driver had experience “but we all have bad days.”
Copland confirmed that drivers weren’t trained on what to do if their air brakes failed.
When questioned by the driver’s attorney, Olivia Lund, Copland said that neither the company nor the industry in general was trained for that situation.
Lund said an expert who investigated the accident will say the bus was not prepared to carry passengers up and down the steep hill.
Copland said he had not seen the report, so it was difficult to comment.
He told the coroner that since the accident, Ruapehu Alpline Lifts has outsourced its transportation services up and down the mountain.
It had also adhered to a voluntary code that includes buses with tight seat belts and driver training in response to emergencies.
The code also includes the condition that alpine buses are no more than 10 years old.
The investigation will continue on Monday.
