Due to licensing concerns, a bus driver who was charged with extra offenses in the death of ten passengers returning from a wedding will not have to appear in court when his case is brought up again.
Brett Andrew Button was initially charged with ten counts of hazardous driving resulting in death in connection with the June crash.
The additional accusations, filed earlier this month, include nine counts of hazardous driving resulting in serious bodily damage and two dozen counts of causing harm by misconduct.
Button was driving with 35 people back from a wedding when the vehicle flipped near Greta in the NSW Hunter region soon before midnight on June 11.
Nine persons were killed at the site, while a tenth died on the way to the hospital.
Button was granted bail after appearing before Cessnock Local Court, despite police opposition and a strong prosecution case bolstered by passenger accounts regarding his behavior prior to the incident.
He is accused of driving dangerously fast in dense fog and asking passengers to “fasten your seatbelts” moments before losing control of his vehicle at a roundabout.
The bus then collided with a guard barrier before flipping over and collapsing on its side.
A portion of the evidence brief has now been served.
Button was excused from appearing in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday and again in October.
“He has some licensing issues,” Button’s lawyer, Jemma O’Brien, told the court on Wednesday.
Linq Buslines and a Charlestown pain management clinic have provided papers in response to police subpoenas.
