POLICE have issued a court summons to coach company Merseypride Travel following the verdict of accidental death recorded, on Tuesday, in the two-day inquest into the A3 Thursley coach crash, which killed three people last September.

The summons relating to a defective tyre and the coach carrying an extra passenge will be heard at South West Surrey Magistrates Court, in Guildford, on August 12.

The verdict was recorded by Surrey Coroner Richard Travers following the inquest at Woking into the deaths of coach driver Colin Daulby, 63, and passengers Michael Molloy, 18, and Kerry Ogden, 23. who were on their way home from the Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight

The court heard Mr Daulby battled to control the 52-seat coach as it headed north near the Hindhead Tunnel when the blow-out on the front nearside tyre occurred.

The coach veered to the left, mounting the embankment, and crashed through a fence and into the tree.

The tyre was later found to be more than 19 years old and Mr Travers said the reason it had failed "so catastrophically" was because it had "perished through old age".

For full story, see this week's Liphook Herald.