A DRUNKEN bus passenger caused an Oxford Tube bus to overturn on the M40 when he grabbed the wheel.

Magistrates heard yesterday Thomas Roby had been drinking heavily and had used the toilet at least 10 times on the double-decker coach before making it crash and overturn on the motorway at about 2am on August 30.

The 21-year-old admitted charges of interfering with a motor vehicle and endangering the lives of road users when he appeared in court at High Wycombe.

Roby, of Cavell Road, off Iffley Road, Oxford, was remanded on bail to be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court at a later date.

The court heard yesterday that he had shouted “Let’s go then” at driver Trevor License before grabbing the wheel.

He caused the £400,000 double-decker to swerve sharply, hitting an embankment and overturning.

Prosecuter Peter Bird said Roby had been agitated throughout the journey of the London-bound Oxford Tube bus, pacing up and down the coach and repeatedly visiting the lavatory.

Mr Bird said Roby was heavily inebriated, but had only been allowed on the bus because Mr License, 48, thought he was vulnerable.

A dazed Mr License managed to guide all 12 passengers from the wreckage through roof hatches.

They all escaped with minor injuries.

Roby ran from the bus – which suffered £52,000 worth of damage – up the motorway at junction three and was later arrested in the back garden of a nearby house. Mr Bird said: “The bus driver let him on the bus because he thought he was vulnerable, although he was heavily inebriated.

“The defendant was up and down on the bus during the journey. He used the toilet 10 times and kept going up and down the stairs.

“He was up with the driver and said to him ‘Right, let’s go then’ and pulled the steering wheel towards him, leaning back at the same time.

“The driver tried to make an emergency stop but could not.

“The bus veered into the hard shoulder, hit the safety barrier, went up the embankment and turned over on its right-hand side.

“There were 12 passengers on board and thankfully none of them was seriously injured. The bus driver guided all the passengers off the bus through hatches on its roof.

“He then saw the defendant running up the motorway in lane two.

He was later arrested in the back garden of a house near the motorway after a woman reported a suspicious man in her garden.”

Mr Bird said several passengers and Mr License had on-going back problems and had suffered recurring flashbacks following the crash.

He requested that the case be sent to crown court for sentencing due to the serious nature of the incident.

Defence counsel Hayley Perves told the court: “I have nothing to add at this stage.”

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* An investigation is continuing into a crash on the M40, also involving an Oxford Tube bus, on December 11.