A schoolgirl who sustained serious injuries after falling out of a school bus when its back window collapsed accepted €86,000 in damages from Bus Éireann in the High Court in Galway yesterday.
Ms Saoirse McWalters, of Milltown, Co Galway, was only nine when the accident occurred on January 22nd, 2001. In court this week she sued Bus Éireann through her father, Mr Frank McWalters.
The court heard how she was travelling home from school in the bus with about 15 schoolmates. She was standing on the back seat with friends and they were linking arms and swaying with the motion of the bus.
Without warning, the window fell out and Saoirse and three other girls fell through the opening onto the road. She lay unconscious on the road and only regained consciousness on her way to hospital.
She sustained a fractured left thigh and suffered injuries to her elbow and to her knee, along with contusions. She underwent surgery to have a plate inserted into her femur and also had to have glass removed from her elbow.