Widow’s tribute to bus crash victim
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THE widow of a bus driver killed in a road accident during a scheduled run in Caithness has said it has still not sunk in that her husband is not coming back.
Les Davison (64) died when his Stagecoach 25-seater bus collided with a pick-up truck at a sweeping bend near the entrance of Thuster Farm between Wick and Watten on Monday night.
His wife Elizabeth said he was a Yorkshireman who had fallen in love with the far north and had no intention of living anywhere else.
Speaking at their home at Toftingall, near Watten, Mrs Davison (66), who had known her husband since early childhood, said that moving to the area and running his own farm made him the happiest he had ever been.
"He loved living up here as there are smashing people who make you feel so welcome. We never had any intention of living anywhere else," she said.
"We first met in 1953 and I went to school with his sister and I knew his parents so we grew up together.
"His mother was the matchmaker and we got married in 1989 in Yorkshire, but we decided to move to Caithness as land was a lot of cheaper up here.
"His main passion in life was his farm where he kept cattle and sheep but lately he just concentrated on sheep."
Mr Davison was born in Aberford, near Leeds, but moved with his wife, son Joseph (19) and stepson Nick (44) to Toftingall in 1996.
He started working as a bus driver with Stagecoach in 2001 and regularly drove on the 82 service evening run between Wick and Thurso after working on his holding during the day.
Mrs Davison said he used to enjoy working as a bus driver but said his mind was always concentrated on what he was going to do next on the farm.
"His father worked as a farmer and he was brought up on different farms and he loved working with animals.
"He worked for Stagecoach as a bus driver for about 12 years. He used to sit in the bus thinking about what his next venture was going to be and would come home with all sorts of ideas telling us what he was going to do."
She added: "On the whole he was a very laid-back man to the point he was almost horizontal at times – he took everything in his stride."
Mrs Davison said the family have been inundated with calls since her husband died, offering support and condolences to a popular man.
She said his death had left a huge hole in their lives that could not be replaced.
"The community have been so supportive. They have given us food and flowers which we can’t thank them enough for.
"We have also received phone calls where men have been in tears speaking to us because they have been so upset about what has happened.
"The family will always remember him as the main man on the farm."
The 4x4 pick-up truck, which was towing an empty stock float when the collision occurred, was being driven by Andrew Sinclair, of Newtonhill, Wick.
He had to be freed from his vehicle by firefighters and was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
NHS Highland yesterday said he remained in a stable condition.
