SURVIVORS of the M25 coach crash have told an inquest how they were so concerned about their driver's competence they considered leaving the vehicle.

Chris Sloane, aged 42, was "nodding off", and driving erratically in the moments before the accident.

But the passengers continued on their journey back to Evesham from a shopping day-trip in France. However, on the M25, the WR Spring and Son coach swerved sharply to the right, then to the left, plunged down a steep embankment, before overturning on its side.

Six people died and 40 were injured after the devastating crash, on Saturday, November 16.

Relatives of the victims were attending the first day of the three-day inquest, which opened in Aylesbury yesterday.

Drivers Graham Spring, aged 56, and Christopher Sloane, and Mr Sloane's wife Karen, 38, all from Evesham, died in the crash, as did passengers Bernard Coppin, 62, from Drakes Broughton and Norma Evans, 54, of Badsey, Evesham.

Another passenger, Jane Wedgbury, 39, of Alcester, Warwickshire, died in hospital three days after the crash.

Survivor Lynne Amphlatt, 53, said she and husband Tony had considered getting off the coach when they realised Mr Sloane would be the return driver.

The couple, from Pershore, had been on a coach trip to Ireland when Mr Sloane had two minor accidents.

"Very early on, I said to Tony, 'look who the other driver is, it's Chris Sloane'," said Mrs Amphlatt, one of 37 survivors.

"We had been on a coach before when he was the driver and he had reversed into something and ran over a set of steps.

"I didn't have much confidence in him and I didn't know whether or not we should get off the coach.

"But then, I decided to stay on. I didn't want to spoil it for Tony and myself and our friends."

The coach returned to Dover at 8pm and set off for Evesham, but the heating was on and passengers noticed it was extremely hot at the front.

Mrs Amphlatt said Mr Sloane then opened the driver's window, but a friend asked her to have him close it as she was cold.

"I had seen his head jolting a couple of times and said to Trisha (her friend) he needs it open to stay awake," she said.

"I went up to ask him to close the window and I felt his head had gone down a couple of times. I said 'I feel he is falling asleep' and that is the last thing I remember."

She agreed with the coroner when he said that Mr Sloane had been literally "nodding off".

The inquest continues.

- Yesterday we said that Mr and Mrs Spring's two children, Stephen and Anne, were orphaned by the tragedy. This was incorrect and should have read Mr and Mrs Sloane's two children. We apologise for any distress this may have caused.