An elderly coach driver who killed three men and seriously injured a fourth when he ploughed into the back of a car on a hard shoulder was today jailed for seven years.

Alan Peters, now 78 and from Gravesend, was in a "state of semi-consciousness" when he crashed a double decker full of university cheerleaders into a stationary Audi that had its hazards lights on after stopping on the M1 in Bedfordshire.

The men who died were the Audi driver, 59 year old carer Allan Evans from Islington in London, and back seat passengers, 23 year old roofer and delivery driver Nathan Reeves and 20 year old delivery driver Tom Aldridge, both from Newport Pagnell, Bucks.

The passengers' friend Jake Dorling, from Milton Keynes, who was in the front passenger seat, suffered a fractured skull, fractured hips, four fractured ribs, nerve damage to his hands and a punctured lung.

At a trial last month Mr Dorling, 23, told the jury at Luton crown court that he and his two friends had been to a birthday party at Club Egg in London. Mr Evans had agreed to drive them home for £60.

He said: "We were on the M1 going back to Milton Keynes and ran out of oil on the motorway. The oil light came on. We stopped on hard shoulder and he refilled the car with oil.

"He went to the boot retrieved oil and popped open the bonnet and put oil in the car.

"The duration was very quick and he got in the car. We were almost ready to set off. I looked back and I don't really remember anything.

"My next memory was waking up in hospital with head bandage around my head, confused."

Alan Peters, from Valley Drive, Gravesend, Kent, denied causing the death of the three men by dangerous driving on Saturday, February 14 last year.

He also denied causing serious injury to Jake Dorling by dangerous driving. The jury of nine women and three men convicted him unanimously on all four counts.

Judge Richard Foster told him: "As a result of your dangerous driving three men lost their lives and a fourth man was seriously injured. In my judgement there were not one but two incidents of dangerous driving.

"You both failed to notice and therefore follow the clear signage indicating that you should not have been driving on the hard shoulder but having done so you also failed to register that a parked car was on that hard shoulder with its hazard warning lights illuminated 1500 metres, or 55 seconds in driving time, ahead of you.

"Indeed the only conclusion to draw is that you were in some sort of state of semi-consciousness at a time when you were driving a double decker coach with 62 university students on board."

Prosecutor Peter Shaw said that at the time of the crash, motorway signs indicated the hard shoulder was for emergency use only. Mr Evans had stopped the car on the M1 northbound between junctions 12 and 13 near Flitwick. The crash happened at around 6.40 in the morning, when it was still dark.

Mr Peters had picked up the team of cheerleaders from Kent University in Canterbury in a Volvo double decker at around 4.20 am and was heading to the LG Centre in Birmingham to take the 62 university cheerleaders to a convention. They were between half an hour and an hour late leaving because he had gone to the wrong bus stop.

Mr Shaw said the coach hit the Audi at an estimated speed of 61 miles per hour and the coach driver had ample opportunity to abide by the signs saying the hard shoulder was for emergency use only.

"There was ample opportunity for the defendant to have heeded those warnings. However in contravention of those signs he entered the hard shoulder and once on the hard shoulder, he remained there for 2 minutes and 48 seconds.

"Not only did the defendant make the serious error of moving into the hard shoulder and maintaining his position there at cruising speed, he failed to react to the stationary car ahead until the very last, with evidence of him applying his brakes 0.4 seconds before impact.

"It was a clear run uninterrupted by intervening cars and the Audi had its hazard warning lights on. The stationary Audi would have been in view for 1500 metres, equating to a travelling time of 55 seconds. Mr Peters steered the coach to the right only 0.6 seconds prior to the impact."

The prosecutor said that earlier a car transporter had made the same serious error of driving on the hard shoulder, but had moved to his right when he saw the stationary Audi.

Mr Peters said he started driving coaches in 2000, having previously worked in banking and property management.

Today his barrister Nigel Lickley QC read a reference from the Reverend Angela Walker who got to know him following his wife's death. She wrote: "It was clear to me he was deeply upset and distressed at the heartache he had caused to the family.

"Alan deeply regrets the accident. He would never willingly hurt anyone. The scene of the accident plays over and over again in his mind. He has shown deep remorse to those he has hurt. Alan is being punished every day "

Jailing him, the judge said:"At the time of this accident you were 76 years of age. You had other choices available to you.

"You could have questioned whether you should have continued as a professional driver at all at that age with all the responsibilities it entails or at least whether you should carry out long journeys especially with such an early start.

"On the morning in question if you felt that you were struggling to concentrate you could have chosen to take a break at Toddington Services just before junction 12."

Peters was banned from driving for eight and a half years.