Dartford bus driver cleared over passenger death

A bus driver has been cleared of causing death by careless driving after an 86-year-old passenger died after being thrown from her seat.

Beatrice Meager was hurt when driver Greg Emmerson braked hard to avoid a turning van, and she died in hospital.

Mr Emmerson, 26, said seconds before he had checked for passengers at a bus stop but when he looked back he saw the van had "slammed its brakes on".

He told Maidstone Crown Court he then "braked as hard as he could".

Mr Emmerson, from Gravesend, denied causing death by careless driving and was cleared by a jury.

The jury heard Mrs Meager was injured on 19 September 2016, while travelling on the number 414 bus on the A225 in Dartford to her home in Sutton-at-Hone.

She suffered fractured ribs, which led to her experiencing breathing difficulties.

While she was in hospital she developed an infection and died on 4 October.

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Meager's family said: "She was a lovely woman who was not ready to die."