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Financial, legal and regulatory difficulties have
dogged the owner of a privately-owned charter bus that burned just south of
Dallas, incinerating 24 elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees from Houston, records
examined by CBS-11 News shows.
Records raise safety questions about faulty breaks, proper insurance coverage
and whether Global Tours and Charters, of McAllen, Texas, was even legally
allowed to operate its six buses, one of which was almost completely incinerated
along with two dozen elderly passengers early Friday morning on Interstate-45
near Wilmer.
Also known as Global Limo, Inc., the small charter bus company is owned by James
Maples, a 20-year veteran of the business who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
last February, CBS-11 first reported during its 11 a.m. Friday newscast.
Witnesses say the rear end of the bus carrying more than 40 nursing home
evacuees from the upscale Houston suburb of Bellaire turned red hot and then
caught fire, which quickly spread through the interior, perhaps fueled by
medical oxygen carried with passengers.
Nationally, aging brake discs on charter buses have been identified as the cause
of fires and crashes, and have led to tougher federal safety standards that are
supposed to be enforced by states. CBS-11 could not immediately determine how
Global Limo's buses have fared in Texas Department of Public Safety inspections,
but a check of federal records online showed the company had earned a
"satisfactory" safety rating in inspections over the past 24 months.
Dallas County Fire Marshal Greg Johnson, who is part of an expanding federal
investigation of the tragedy, told CBS-11 that faulty mechanics were likely at
fault. He declined to elaborate.
"It appea rs to be a mechanical problem," Marshal Johnson said.
As hurricane Rita began touching the Texas Gulf Coast, a half dozen agencies
began converging on Dallas to investigate the bus tragedy, including a dozen
investigators of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Maples, who was driving a different bus and was in Dallas Friday, did not return
telephone messages. But a company representative Juan Jauregui, said the charter
bus was in good shape mechanically and had passed safety inspections.
"It's a real good bus. We stand by it," he said. "Our feelings are with the
families."
But the record is contradictory as to whether Maple's buses were safe or
regularly inspected. Allegations of faulty brakes on his buses came to light in
a February bankruptcy filing this year. Records from the Maple's bankruptcy file
show that a creditor owned money by Global Limo seized three of the company's
six buses in march. In an interview with CBS-11, the creditor said those buses
suffered from serious brake problems.
A bankruptcy judge later ordered that those buses had to be returned to Global
Limo. It remains unknown whether any of those three buses were the one that
caught fire Friday morning. State vehicle records show that several of Maple's
buses are old, one built 35 years ago in 1969 and another in 1979.
Financial problems and litigation have dogged Maple and his bus company, records
show. For instance, he owed the IRS more than $225,000 in back taxes from
1992-2000.
Federal regulations require bus companies to carry at least $5 million in
insurance, and records show that Maples has struggled to keep up. A fax by his
insurance carrier threatened that his insurance was going to be cancelled for
non-payment in June.
A letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates private
charter bus companies, notified Global Limo in March that it was going to revoke
its registration to do business because the company had not provided proof of
insurance. There was no indication Friday if the issue was ever settled, and the
insurance carrier refused to comment.
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