SURVIVORS of the M25 coach crash have told how the one-and-a-half day inquest at Aylesbury last week took its toll.

Passenger Amanda Beauchamp whose Aunt Norma died in the accident last November has endured nightmares, panic attacks and is afraid to sleep in the dark.

Her mother who was with her, Pat Beauchamp, will never work again, and Pat's sister Janet Huxley lost sleep for days - just through the trauma of listening to the witness statements.

Mrs Huxley said: "I lost my sister who was also my best mate. I never knew until I heard the full details of all the injuries just how it was. Pat Beauchamp has undergone five operations on her left arm, which was severely injured.

She said: "I thought I was managing until I found myself crying for no reason. I was lucky I was asleep on impact. The first thing I remember was all the glass in my hair and the dirt - spitting it out and choking."

It was her daughter Amanda however, the one with the least physical injuries, who suffered most. She was awake throughout the ordeal, and put her head between her knees before impact. When the coach came to rest after careering off the motorway and down an embankment, she lifted her head and found she was almost face to face with her aunt, Norma Evans from Badsey.

Norma had been thrown across the coach, and had died from a massive head injury.

The inquest last week heard Amanda tell how she was afraid to sleep in the dark for fear of seeing her Aunt's face again. She said: "People think because you look okay, that you are fine, but they didn't understand until they read the details of the inquest - and I couldn't bring myself to tell anybody."

Amanda said she would never get on a coach again, and until recently was too terrified to walk down the street near traffic.

The three women expressed sympathy for the coach drivers family. Miss Beauchamp said: "At first I was angry at the thought that he had killed six people but now I just feel so sorry for everyone.

All of us have suffered, and those who were at the inquest formed a bond, which kept us strong. I have received wonderful counselling from my GP's surgery in Broadway, I don't know what I would have done without it. This tragic incident has put my life in perspective. I am determined to try to live the rest of it to the full."

l During her stay in hospital Pat Huxley was visited by a mystery woman who arrived with a bunch of flowers. "She had arrived by train and was wet through with rain, but wouldn't stay or give her name. She just hugged me and left. I would love to see her again."