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Testing centre cleared in Navan crash case

Navan - Case against testing firm withdrawn
Navan - Case against testing firm withdrawn

A test centre in Co Louth has been acquitted on all charges relating to the fatal Navan bus crash three years ago.

Five schoolgirls were killed when their school bus crashed near Kentstown on 23 May 2005.

The trial collapsed because the wrong date was on the charge sheet.

The company had pleaded not guilty to two charges of failing to note the ABS warning light on the bus was not operational, prior to the crash.

Following an application from the defence, Judge Patrick McCartan withdrew the case against McArdles Test Centre Ltd of Dundalk from the jury on day six of the trial.

He directed that verdicts of not guilty be recorded.

Two other companies, and Meath County Council, which have already pleaded guilty to various charges arising from the accident, in which five school-girls died, will be sentenced shortly.