A BUS inspector said she feared for her life as she was driven through a crowd of shouting picket-line protesters moments before Frank Dean was crushed to death.

Mrs Beatrice Symons, a passenger on the double decker bus that crushed Mr Dean against a gatepost, told the inquest into his death: "I have never been so frightened."

Other drivers who worked during the one-day strike over pay on December 14 also said they feared mob violence as they drove across the picket line into the Stagecoach Ribble depot, Quarry Street, Blackburn.

Several non-union staff, who were brought from all over the country to run a skeleton service, said there had been trouble between strikers and staff throughout the day, including protesters driving cars in front of the buses and slowing down to force them to stop.

Driver Mark Butler, from Nottingham, said strikers had pressed his emergency stop button about ten times during the day, causing the engine to cut out.

The ex-soldier compared the scene at the depot to Northern Ireland and said: "I have seen the same sort of anger there. Things were getting out of control."

Mrs Symons, a management trainee from Northampton, was manning the bus with driver Robert Parkinson, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, as they entered Quarry Street. A picket hit the driver's cab window with an umbrella then ran to the back of the bus and opened the rear emergency door, setting off a siren in the driver's cab, before touching the engine stop button.

Witnesses identified him as John Beckett, who did not appear at the inquest. Police said he had admitted to them striking the bus with an umbrella but denied pressing the emergency stop button or opening the door.

Mrs Symons said she ran to the back of the bus to try to shut the door, which had swung outwards.

She said: "The noise from the pickets was deafening. I could hear Robert trying to start the bus and the engine kept clicking as if someone was trying to stop it.

"I didn't see anyone by the gatepost until I saw a policeman jump out of the way."

Mr Parkinson was not present at the inquest at the Ribble Valley Town Hall, Church Street, Clitheroe. PC Gary Taylor, of Lancashire Constabulary, read out parts of a police interview with him.

At the time, Mr Parkinson told police he had struggled to concentrate because of the noise of the crowd, the siren and the banging on the bus.

Mr Parkinson, 32, told police he could not swing out far enough because the crowd of unofficial pickets on the right were also forcing him to the left.

He said that when the engine stopped, the power steering also cut out, dragging the bus over to the left into the wrong position for the very sharp turn through the depot gates.

He did not realise how close he was to the gatepost until he hit it. He intended to reverse, then heard people shouting that there was somebody under the bus and decided to stay still until police told him what to do, despite strikers telling him to back up. Mr Parkinson told police: "As well as being totally terrified, I was just wondering what was going on because I did not know if I had hit him or not. I heard a policeman say 'he's not breathing'. I was dazed."

Striking bus driver Alan Prendergast, of Dineley Street, Church, who saw the accident, said: "I opened the front door of the bus and shouted to the driver 'don't move this bus' but the driver just smiled and laughed at me."

Mr Prendergast broke down as he continued: "As people became aware of what had happened, some of the strikers were pushing the buses back. The driver then assisted them in moving it.

"The driver was still smirking as if he was laughing. This made me angry and I shouted 'you murdering bastard'."

Other strikers also denied that they had tried to intimidate the drivers and said their actions throughout the day were mischievous but good-natured.

The inquest, before acting Blackburn Coronor Michael Singleton, was expected to conclude today.

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