Wolverhampton bus tragedy: 'Disgusted and disillusioned' family hit out at police failings

The 28-year-old's family said they were outraged at the way October 17 unfolded, with their loved one left dying on the bus outside the city's main police station for almost an hour.

Following the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report into the failings surrounding Mr Jones's death, his father John - a 57-year-old retired painter and decorator from Upper Gornal - said he was 'disgusted and utterly disillusioned with the police'.

The IPCC has found that the incident was never logged at the front desk despite the bus driver twice going inside to report it; some staff refused to get involved because they did not feel it was their job; the incident should have been classed as an emergency; and there was a defibrillator at the station that went un-used as Mr Jones suffered what paramedics classed as a cardiac arrest.

"In my view there are still a lot of holes in their version of events," his father told the Express & Star. "The fact the incident was only logged by them after my son had been pronounced dead speaks volumes for the whole affair. It was a shambles but all that is going to happen is that one person might get a slap on the wrist. It is not good enough.

"It is the job of the police to protect the public but they did absolutely nothing to protect Tony as he was dying outside their front door."

In the wake of Mr Jones's death, front desk worker Permjit Chima is facing disciplinary action and Special Constable Stefan Jones no longer volunteers with West Midlands Police.

Tony's sister Sarah Hart, 27, who also lives in Upper Gornal, added: "We have not had so much as a word of apology from the police over the mess they made of this.

"The whole thing was disgraceful from start to finish. The more we have discovered what did, or did not, go on, the more frustrated we have felt and the more questions remain unanswered.

"We are very grateful for what other passengers on the bus did to try to help Tony in his hour of need but I still find it almost impossible to believe that untrained members of the public were left to deal with such a situation on their own for so long outside a police station full of people with first aid training and a defibrillator."

Trevor's niece Chloe Law, aged 16, added: "I miss him an awful lot and hope no other family ever have to go through what we have had to suffer."

Mr Jones, aged 28, from Gill Street, Netherton had two and a half times the drink drive limit and traces of heroin and sleeping pills in his blood, pathologist Dr Manel Mangalika told an inquest into the death. She estimated that the combination could have proved fatal within half an hour.

His family admitted that he had drug problems in the past but said he had received a clean drug test the day before he died.

They explained that he was taking medication as well as methadone, a heroin substitute used to wean users off the hard drug.

Black Country Coroner Zafar Siddique concluded it was a drugs and alcohol-related death and the outcome was unlikely to have been different if police had intervened sooner. The IPCC echoed this.

According to the IPCC report, when front desk Ms Chima was asked why she did not log the incident or follow things up to see if an officer was going to help, she replied: "Because I was on my own, you know, I'm doing my thing. I ain't got time to ask them 'have you been outside to have a look' or anything. I never have that time you know, not being funny, you can't keep finding what's going on outside."

In regards to Special Constable Stefan Jones, the IPCC said: "SC Jones did not ask any questions and did not log the incident."

After his pleas for help went unanswered, bus driver Ravinder Kumar eventually called 999 for an ambulance himself outside the police station.

An ambulance arrived eight minutes later and two paramedics - treating the call as a cardiac arrest - immediately started to try to revive Mr Jones.

No police help was provided to either the patient or bus driver, even after it was clear the passenger needed medical attention and despite Bilston Street police station having its own defibrillator.

By chance Emma Bogle, regional head of Community Response for West Midland Ambulance Service - who does not normally respond to emergency calls - was on the Wolverhampton ring road when the call came in and diverted to the scene, arriving six minutes after the first ambulance. A second ambulance got there three minutes later.

Mr Jones was pronounced dead at 7.21pm on October 17, 56 minutes after the double decker with him on board had stopped outside the police station.