A DRIVER has told how his coach was shunted off a mountain road killing six people including Bournemouth musician David Hamilton.

An inquest heard Martin Faulhuber tell how a reckless attempt to overtake by an elderly minibus driver led his coach to plummet 40 metres down an embankment in Austria.

The 39-year-old driver said he was travelling at about 50-60km per hour when he noticed the minibus trying to overtake him.

"When it was level with me I noticed a blue car coming from the other direction" he told an inquest in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

"I braked and the minibus seemed to brake. It pushed against my coach and the right hand tyres went over the edge of the embankment.

"The coach dropped over the edge as if in slow motion. I believe it rolled over three or four times. I was thrown out of the driver's side window."

Mr Hamilton, 33, of Castlemain Avenue, Southbourne, was on holiday with his partner, Liz Cullen, when tragedy struck at Bad Duerrnberg, around 100 miles west of Vienna on August 10 last year. Ms Cullen suffered elbow and knee injuries in the crash.

The inquest heard Mr Hamilton, a 16-year-old girl from Kent and a married couple from Hatfield all died of multiple injuries. A fifth victim, a 63-year-old man from Cheshire, died of multiple organ failure 16 days after the accident.

Coroner Edward Thomas was told that the minibus driver has since been given a one-year suspended jail sentence.

Recording verdicts of accidental verdicts on all five victims, Mr Thomas said emergency services had described the scene as "absolute chaos."

He said he could not imagine the pain the grieving relatives had suffered.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Hamilton's parents, Sandra and Alan, said their son had been enjoying a well-earned break with his girlfriend.

"He phoned up a couple of times and was in good spirits" said his father, who also lives in Southbourne.

First published: August 26