A BUS driver has appeared in court accused of dangerous driving after his Oxford Tube with 32 passengers crashed on an M40 sliproad.

Mark Woodward was at the wheel of the 87-seat Stagecoach vehicle when it crashed on the motorway exit slip road at Great Milton on December 11 last year.

Prosecutor Mohammed Sheikh said the incident, which happened at 10.54pm and left 25 passengers injured, caused considerable damage to the £350,000 coach.

On the journey to Oxford, the service normally leaves the M40 at junction eight to join the A40 into the city, but instead the coach left the motorway at junction seven.

Woodward, of Beaumaris Close, Banbury, denied one count of dangerous driving at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The 57-year-old, who still suffers the effects of injuries he received in the crash, will be tried by a jury at Oxford Crown Court later this year after the magistrates declined jurisdiction.

The crash, which closed the slip road while the Stagecoach vehicle was recovered, saw the 2009 double-decker flip on to its side after going through a barrier.

Some passengers suffered broken bones in the incident.

Yesterday, chairman of magistrates Honor Juniper explained the magistrates could only sentence a defendant to a maximum of six months in prison.

She said: “We are very much aware this is not a suitable thing for the magistrates’ court so I will give it to the crown court.”

Woodward’s barrister Steve Molloy said his client would have “elected a trial by jury in any event”.

Woodward wore a suit and tie and spoke only to enter his plea, confirm his details and to inquire about his attendance at future hearings.

He was given unconditional bail to return to the same court on July 14.

l In February, Thomas Roby was jailed for a year for drunkenly grabbing the wheel of another Oxford Tube coach, causing it to crash.

The 21-year-old, from Cavell Road, East Oxford, was captured on CCTV wrestling the driver for control of the vehicle as it swerved across the carriageway at 60mph.

The coach careered up an embankment before tipping over on the outskirts of Beaconsfield at about 1.10am on August 30, 2010.

There were 12 passengers aboard and no-one was seriously hurt.