Coach driver hailed a hero after driving into boulders to save passengers

French investigators concluded that an experienced bus driver from Ashington, Northumberland, had prevented great loss of life after the brakes on the coach he was driving failed during the treacherous descent on the D211 road from French ski resort Alpe d'Huez.

The coroners court in Berwick heard how Maurice Wrightson, 63, deliberately steered the vehicle toward the rocky mountainside when its brakes failed while approaching the 21st hairpin bend.