Coach driver admits causing fatal crash

LONDON (Reuters) - A National Express coach driver admitted on Wednesday being responsible for causing a crash on a motorway slip road near Heathrow Airport that left three people dead.

Philip Rooney, 48, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving when he appeared at the Old Bailey, the Press Association reported.

Three passengers in his double-decker coach were killed and dozens others were seriously injured when the vehicle overturned as it left the M4 motorway to join the M25.

Many of those on the overnight London to Aberdeen service had to be cut from the wreckage, with those on board describing the scene as mayhem.

Rooney, from Carluke in Scotland, was behind the wheel when the crash took place on January 3 last year and admitted three counts of death by dangerous driving. He was bailed to be sentenced on November 24.

Christina Toner, 76, from Dundee, and 30-year-old Yi Di Lin, a Chinese national, died in the crash.

John Carruthers, 78, of Chertsey in Surrey, died six months later in hospital.

After the accident, National Express temporarily withdrew its entire fleet of 12 double-decker coaches.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)