THE DRIVER of the coach which crashed into a field off the A1 in North Yorkshire may have been taken ill at the wheel, say police.

Richard John Nalepa, a 49-year-old married man from Mirfield, West Yorkshire, died after the 48-seater Wallace Arnold coach, carrying 26 mainly elderly passengers home to the North-East, left the northbound stretch of road at Ainderby Quernhow, near Thirsk.

Doctors pronounced Mr Nalepa dead at the scene of the accident, which happened at around 7.45pm last Friday.

Sergeant Brian Trickett, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "There's a suspicion that he might have been taken ill but that's all we can say for certain.

"We will have to wait until the pathologist's report has been done tomorrow before we can have a better idea."

The coach passengers were all taken to the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton.

Two of the passengers were kept in overnight for observation and 20 were treated for minor injuries and then released.