WHITTLESEY based Decker Bus – formerly Alec Head Coaches – confirmed today it was their coach involved in the fatal crash near Alton Towers last night. The coach was bringing 70 fruit pickers back to a fruit farm near Oundle: the workers come from Eastern

WHITTLESEY based Decker Bus - formerly Alec Head Coaches - confirmed today it was their coach involved in the fatal crash near Alton Towers last night.

The coach was bringing 70 fruit pickers back to a fruit farm near Oundle: the workers come from Eastern Europe and from South Africa.

A spokesman for Decker Bus said they offered their "sincere sympathies and condolences to all involved and the families of the dead and injured."

The company - founded in 1955 when Alex Head bought two 29 seater coaches- said they were working closely with all the relevant authorities and emergency services. The company operates under both Decker Bus and a sister company Alec Head Travel.

Mr Head died in 1996 and the business, based on the Aaaron Road Industrial Estate, is now run by his wife June, son Tony and daughter Sandra.

The dead passenger, who has not been named, is believed to be a 26 year old man from Poland and he was one of 70 passengers returning from the pleasure park in Staffordshire.

The coach driver, whose was said by police to have received "significant leg injuries", is one of three people still seriously ill and being kept in hospital.

Police believe the coach hit two stationary cars and then smashed through a wall before plunging 15 feet down an embankment before coming to rest. The driver was given a routine breath test but this was confirmed as producing a negative result.

Fruit farmer Anne Long confirmed the workers were all employed by her family and said some lived on the farm whilst others stayed in Peterborough.