A bus driver charged over a crash on East Broadway told officers her steering wheel locked, sending her vehicle on a collision course with a row of parked cars.

Belterre Swan, 55, has denied driving a vehicle while her ability to drive was impaired by a drug.

She also denies driving without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for others in relation to the March 11 crash.

In a police interview shown to the court, Mrs Swan said the steering wheel of her bus locked while travelling along East Broadway and that while she applied the brakes, she was unable to avoid the collision.

Magistrates’ Court also heard evidence from Pamela Gray, who said she boarded the number 8 bus at the Hamilton terminal at about 11.30am that day. She told the court that shortly after leaving the terminal, the bus stopped on Church Street and the driver urged a passenger to get off the bus.

“The driver told her friend, I assume, that might want to get off the bus and catch the one behind us,” Mrs Gray said. “He did not respond. She turned further and said, ‘I don’t know if you heard me. You might want to get off here. I’m not sure I’m going to make it’.”

Mrs Gray said the passenger got off the bus, but she stayed on board, adding: “I really wish I didn’t.”

She said the bus continued along its route when, shortly after going down Spurling Hill, she heard a loud scraping followed by a series of crashes. She said she was thrown forward into a pole inside the bus.

“We were thrown around,” she said. “There was some smoke that got into the bus, which made things a little more scary. We needed to get off the bus. We couldn’t get out the front of the bus because it was all blocked. Somebody said someone had gotten a window open in the back of the bus so we could climb out.

“I never saw the driver. The last I saw she was in the driver’s seat.”

Another passenger, Linnal Simons, told the court she had been with several of her students after taking them on a field trip to City Hall.

She said that when the bus stopped on Church Street, there was conversation between the driver and a passenger, who was seated near the back of the vehicle, about whether he should switch to another bus. She said the man chose to remain on the bus, but she believed another passenger might have gotten on and left the bus while at the stop.

As the bus continued, Ms Simons was speaking to one of her students when she heard the bus driver shout. She felt the bus accelerate and veer to the right and then left.

“I was just holding the little girl saying in my head, ‘Please just stop’. Then it struck the pole. The pole came out of the ground and I closed my eyes,” she said.

When the bus came to a stop, she said her immediate concern was getting the children off the bus. She ran to the front of the bus and asked the driver to open the door.

“She just shook her head,” she said. “We looked each other in the eyes and stared. I think her eyes were watery, glazed.”

Ms Simons said she climbed out of an open window near the back of the bus and helped to guide the children across the street to the Renaissance Reinsurance offices.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Larry Mussenden, she said the driver did attempt to open the bus door, but without success. She also said that she believed the look in the driver’s eyes was caused by shock.

Ms Simmons said she was aware that the number 8 bus occasionally turned around at Barnes Corner and returned to Hamilton on the number 7 route.

The trial is set to continue next month.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. As we are legally liable for any slanderous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.