A woman has told of the moment she heroically steered a coachload of students to safety after their driver suffered a heart attack at the wheel on the M25.
Marie Therese Gumpert was accompanying 25 American exchange students from Heathrow Airport to London when the driver of their coach collapsed, causing their bus to career across the carriageway and collide with the central reservation.
Ms Gumpert, a student liaison officer at a London university, tried in vain to wake the driver, before steering the bus into the hard shoulder and bringing it to a stop, miraculously avoiding a major crash.
Recounting the incident, she told the BBC: “I was working for an American university in London and on September 4, 2022, in the morning I headed to Heathrow Airport to pick up 25 students.
“After driving for about 10 or 15 minutes on the M25, I felt the bus veer strongly to the right.
“I looked down and I noticed that the driver was slumped over in his seat.
“We hit the central barrier and started veering across the other three lanes, so I ran to the front, set the steering wheel straight, and started shaking the driver to try waking him up.”
Ms Gumpert recalled bags and books “flying to the front” of the bus, while the rear right window “exploded” as the bus crashed into the central reservation.
“There was just complete chaos,” she said.
“As we were still proceeding at motorway speeds, I had to pump the brake multiple times until it finally slowed down,” she told the BBC.
“I steered the bus towards the hard shoulder, and finally got it to stop.”The coach came to a stop on the hard shoulder near junction 15 for the M4, in Buckinghamshire, but no other vehicles were hit.
Several students carried the driver from the bus and administered CPR, but were unable to save him. He had reportedly suffered a heart attack at the wheel, and sadly died at the scene.
Six passengers - four women in their late teens and two teenage girls - suffered minor injuries from the windows smashing when the coach hit the central reservation, but did not require hospital treatment.
“While speaking to the police I realised truly how horrific this accident could have been, with 25 students, an unresponsive driver, and a bus heading down the motorway at a very high speed,” Ms Gumpert told the BBC.
“On the day of the accident I didn’t feel really brave. I feel like I just did what I had to do.”
Earlier this year Ms Gumpert, from Austria, was awarded a Chief Constable’s Commendation from Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg, “for her quick thinking to bring the vehicle to a safe stop and avoid hitting any other vehicles”.
Detective Chief Inspector Michael Bettington, head of the force’s Roads Policing Unit, said: “There is no doubt that Marie’s quick thinking, actions and intervention, along with other passengers, directly contributed to the safe conclusion of this awful incident.“If Marie had not done what she did, I have no doubt in my mind that there would have been multiple casualties or worse. Her actions were selfless and commendable.“I have no doubt Marie protected all those on board from serious harm.“Thames Valley Police is incredibly grateful for what Marie did and I thank her for her support and for her public service. Our thoughts also remain with the driver’s family.”
Ms Gumpert described the award at the time as “an overwhelming honour”.“I am deeply humbled to receive this award, grateful for the support of the community, and inspired by the resilience of the passengers,” she said.
