A HEROIC bus driver who died saving his passengers on a mountain road in the Alps knew he would take the “full force of the collision”, a coroner said.

Maurice Wrightson, 63, from Ashington, Northumberland, had been descending the precarious D211 road from French ski resort Alpe d’Huez with 51 British resort staff on April 16, 2013.

But, as he approached the 21st hairpin bend, he became aware that the brakes had failed and decided to smash into the mountainside rather than attempt the corner.

Coroner Tony Brown said: “Maurice knew that failing to complete the manoeuvre would send the coach and all its passengers off the road and down the mountain side.

“He took the brave decision to steer the coach directly into the boulder rocks on the side of the road.

“It would have been obvious to Maurice as driver, that by driving into the boulders in order to keep the coach on the road, he would receive the full force of the collision.”

Flames turned the coach into “a complete inferno”, with passengers desperately trying to escape through the broken windows and one woman being set on fire.

Co-driver Nathan Woodland, 39, who also worked for Classic Coaches, based in Annfield Plain, County Durham, described Mr Wrightson as “old school and a very good driver”.

He said: “The gradient was not that steep compared to other bits, but suddenly Maurice looked at me with a very shocked look on his face.

“He said, ‘It’s not stopping us, it’s not stopping us’. I could tell immediately something was very wrong.”

He said Mr Wrightson began to grip the wheel very tightly and braced himself against his seat to apply more pressure to the brake.

He then described how the coach smashed into the boulders and he was thrown a number of rows back.

As he picked himself up he saw people desperately trying to escape.

“There was a girl who had been sat behind the driver’s seat, her clothes were on fire.

“A man was trying to get her off the coach and dowse the fire on her clothes at the same time,” he said.

The jury at the coroner’s court in Berwick concluded he had died as a result of multiple injuries in a road traffic accident.

French investigators said Mr Wrightson had “undoubtedly prevented” the more serious consequences of the vehicle leaving the road.

Their report said the cause had been “the failing of the main brake, the pads of which had been completely destroyed by excessive heating”.