Council chiefs outline road safety improvements at Dibbles Bridge crash scene

Council chiefs say they hope road safety improvements at the scene of country’s worst-ever road accident will prevent further tragedies.

Senior councillors and officers at North Yorkshire Council today (TUES) held a minute’s silence to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dibbles Bridge coach crash.

The tragedy on May 27, 1975 near the village of Hebden left 32 women dead, as well as the driver of the bus, 35-year-old Roger Marriott.
The passengers had been on a day out to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales from their home town of Thornaby, near Middlesbrough.

Speaking at the council’s executive committee meeting, council leader Carl Les, said: “Fifty years ago, there was the worst ever motoring accident in England and probably in the United Kingdom when 33 people from Thornaby sadly lost their lives.

“They died because the coach they were travelling for a day out in the Yorkshire Dales failed to negotiate the steep hill and severe bend at a place called Dibbles Bridge. The cause was actually brake failure, possibly because of poor maintenance. Since then, there have been considerable improvements to vehicle safety, with all coaches now fitted with electronic retarders so that if the brakes fail, the coach can still come to a stop.
“There’s also been improvements to road safety.”

Councillor Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation, said the crash was not the “first or last tragedy” to take place at the bridge. He added: “An almost identical coach crash actually happened 50 years prior in 1925 and seven people lost their lives then.

“More recently, in the last decade or so three cyclists have also lost their lives on the bridge’s notoriously tricky descent.” Cllr Duncan added: “As a council, we have taken steps to warn and help drivers and cyclists at this location. Some of the steps that we’ve taken include the installation of a fixed barrier at the bridge, the strengthening of the parapet at the bridge, along with additional signage well in advance of the approach to the bridge.

“Fifty years on from the 1975 crash, we hope that the steps we have taken will help to prevent further tragedies from occurring at Dibbles Bridge.”

Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of business and environmental services, told the meeting the B6265, which included Dibbles Bridge, continued to be popular with cyclists, with the route featuring on the popular Strava app.