Hunter Valley wedding bus crash: Parents of a victim reveal they campaigned for bus safety in the area days before their daughter was killed
- Parents of Hunter Valley bus crash victim speak out
- The Mullen family has long campaigned for bus safety
The parents of one of the victims of the Hunter Valley bus accident have revealed that they had complained about bus safety in the area just days before the tragedy.
Ten people were killed and 25 injured when a bus overturned on June 11 in Greta, NSW, while guests were being taken to Singleton from a wedding in Lovedale.
“The unfairness that we knew about bus safety and that we had to lose Bec and her friends in this way is just a tragic irony,” Matt Mullen said of his daughter, who was a doctor.
Before the disaster, he and his wife Leanne had complained many times to the NSW Transport Department about safety on school buses, including the previous week.
“We had lengthy discussions with the local bus safety company about their safety standards for years, not months, prior to the accident,” Mr Mullen said.
The parents of one of the victims (Bec Mullen, pictured) of the Hunter Valley bus crash have revealed that they complained about the safety of buses in the area just days before the tragedy
The family said their youngest daughter Erin was one of the children forced to stand or sit on the floor without access to seat belts during a school bus ride.
They lodged their complaints with Transport for NSW and Hunter Valley Buses – the company that operates school buses in the area – over their safety concerns.
“They’re archaic, they’re way behind systems used to transport livestock and groceries,” Mr Mullen said. 7News.
He called for immediate changes to “driver control, GPS surveillance (and) seatbelts,” saying that so far “We’ve been stopped by the bus company in, to be honest, a rather rude way.”
The Mullens want Bec’s death to finally bring about the changes they feel are desperately needed in school bus services.
The Mullens family (pictured is mother Leanne) want Bec’s death to finally lead to changes they feel are desperately needed
“I think caring for our children as a society should be our number one priority,” Ms Mullen said.
Although Hunter Valley Buses did not operate the bus involved in the fatal accident on June 11, only one of the 290 buses it operates is reportedly equipped with seatbelts.
A shortage of drivers has reduced the number of school bus services, leading to some overcrowding.
“The unfairness of us knowing about bus safety and then losing Bec and her friends in this way is just a tragic irony,” Matt Mullen (pictured left, with his wife Leanne) said of their doctor’s daughter
NSW Roads Minister John Graham said the seatbelt issue is ‘being resolved, with a bus review’.
The Mullens hope their daughter’s “love and kindness” will bring change to protect children in the community.
“Bec loved children, adored them. She’d like us to protect them,’ Mr Mullen said.
“We pray to God that no other family has to go through something like this as we did.”