Lightning actions of a coach driver may have saved the lives of 41 members of Shoebury Conservative Club whose coach "exploded" on the M25 near Waltham Abbey.
Alerted by a burning smell, Charles DeBond of Hawkwell, negotiated the fast moving traffic to park his coach on the hard shoulder and evacuate passengers moments before the coach burst into flames.
One passenger Gillian Young told the Evening Echo: "If we had been on board just a couple of minutes later we would have been dead.
"We told the driver about steam in the coach and you could smell burning plastic. We pulled over. By the time the last passenger had got out there was black and toxic smoke. The coach just lit up."
The Tories were on their way to enjoy a day out on the River Thames.
Today the 56-year-old driver from Rectory Road is a hero to his 41 passengers and his employers BJS Travel of High Street, Great Wakering. But the self-effacing driver said: "It was all in a day's work"
Published Friday July 16, 2004
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