{"id":79119,"date":"2026-08-24T08:39:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79119\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:39:21","slug":"court-told-linq-exposed-public-to-risks-by-employing-driver-before-greta-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79119\/","title":{"rendered":"Court told Linq exposed public to risks by employing driver before Greta crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

A court has heard a bus company linked to a fatal Hunter Valley bus crash exposed the public to risk the entire time the driver involved was employed.<\/p>\n

Linq Buslines and two of its directors, Christopher Fogg and Anthony Royle, are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to heavy-vehicle law breaches.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Christopher Terrence Fogg (left) and Anthony John Royle pleaded guilty to breaching their duty of care. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Brett Andrew Button, 61, was driving the Linq Buslines coach<\/a> carrying wedding guests when he crashed at a roundabout in June 2023.<\/p>\n

Ten people were killed and 25 injured.<\/p>\n

Today, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator prosecutor Georgia Lewer told Gosford Local Court the company’s recruitment policies put the public at risk.<\/p>\n

“It is important that your honour is sentencing [Linq] for the seven months he [Brett Button] was employed to drive buses and the public was put at risk during that period,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It would not have happened had he not been employed.<\/p>\n

“He drove as a casual bus driver for seven months and there was a continuing offence over a period.”<\/p>\n

Driver drug impaired<\/p>\n

Brett Button’s driving career came to a shocking end on a tragic night in Greta.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Brett Button will spend at least 24 years in jail over the crash that killed 10 people in 2023. (ABC Newcastle: Bridget Murphy)<\/p>\n

Button would later admit he was drug impaired, using opioid Tramadol in excessive amounts at the time.<\/p>\n

He was also speeding when he entered the roundabout and tipped the bus onto its side.<\/p>\n

In September 2024, Button was sentenced to 32 years in jail, with a 24-year non-parole period.<\/p>\n

He appealed against the severity of that sentence but it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Families face company directors<\/p>\n

Families and survivors came face to face with company directors today during a sentencing hearing for the heavy vehicle breaches.<\/p>\n

At least four of them have been allowed to deliver victim impact statements as part of the hearing.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Jason and Sharyn Junkeer arrive at Gosford Local Court. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Survivors Jason and Sharyn Junkeer travelled from Victoria.<\/p>\n

They had been among the passengers who pleaded with Button to slow down.<\/p>\n

Matt and Leanne Mullen travelled to Gosford Courthouse from Singleton.<\/p>\n

Their daughter Rebecca, a young doctor, was one of the passengers who died.<\/p>\n

Since the crash, they have called for reforms, including driver monitoring and GPS surveillance.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Matt and Leanne Mullen enter Gosford Local Court. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Exposure to risk<\/p>\n

A lack of protocols, monitoring and procedures are at the heart of the heavy vehicle breach charges the company and its directors have admitted to.<\/p>\n

In March, Linq Buslines pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching the National Heavy Vehicle Law between November 2022 and June 2023.<\/p>\n

The maximum penalty it faces for both breaches combined is a total of $2 million.<\/p>\n

Linq admitted to exposing the public to risk during that time.<\/p>\n

\"police<\/p>\n

Investigators at the scene of the bus crash in which 10 people died. (AAP: Darren Pateman)<\/p>\n

The court heard the company had no policies requiring potential drivers to undergo a medical assessment or fill out a medical fitness form.<\/p>\n

It also heard there was no requirement for drivers to produce a driving record and provide valid references or referees from previous employers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valid licence<\/p>\n

Defence barrister Bruce Hodgkinson SC said there was nothing to suggest Button was not fit for the role.<\/p>\n

“He had to have a medical assessment sent to Transport for NSW, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a licence at the time he approached [Linq] for employment,” Mr Hodgkinson said.<\/p>\n

“His long-term GP said he was not drug dependant and the only muscular disorder he had was arthritis.”<\/p>\n

Linq Buslines directors Christopher Terrence Fogg and Anthony John Royle pleaded guilty to breaching their duty of care in the six weeks leading up to the crash.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The company and directors are being sentenced in Gosford Local Court. (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)<\/p>\n

The charge was set out in the agreed facts which stated: “[Royle and Fogg] failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate action was undertaken to manage and address issues identified over speeding in a timely manner.”<\/p>\n

Sentencing proceedings continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A court has heard a bus company linked to a fatal Hunter Valley bus crash exposed the public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10761,22,21,2742,1109,1991,4550,968],"class_list":["post-79119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-accident","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bus","tag-court","tag-crash","tag-penalty","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}