'He's gone crazy': bus crash driver's chilling warning, painkiller use revealed

Brett Andrew Button ignored pleas from wedding guests on board to slow down, instead hitting the accelerator and giving a chilling warning to passengers: "This next part's going to be fun."

Button should have known the 57-seater coach was going to tip over.

He was an experienced bus driver and was travelling 25 kilometres per hour faster than the rollover threshold on the roundabout, according to an expert.

Button told police in the aftermath of the crash that "suddenly it felt like someone had lifted [the bus] up and threw it on its side".

The crash at 11.32pm on June 11 last year killed 10 wedding guests and injured the 25 other passengers, nine seriously.

The traumatic crash scene has been described as being like a "warzone".

Details of Button's "inappropriate" prescription drug use and his behaviour that life-altering night has been detailed in a statement of facts, signed by Button, seen by the Newcastle Herald.

The Herald chose not to publish confronting details while families were processing the facts.

Button, 59, had his case mentioned in Newcastle District Court for the first time on May 30 where he formally pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, and nine other charges.

Button remains behind bars after he was taken into custody on May 8, and sat donning prison greens when he appeared in court via video link from a Cessnock jail.

The matter was adjourned for a date for sentencing proceedings to be set, which could take days.

BUTTON was working for Linq Buslines when a Singleton couple booked a coach with the company to take guests to and from their wedding at Wandin Estate in the Hunter Valley.

A year earlier, he had been stood down from a different bus company and later left, after a specialist report revealed he was "increasingly dependent on opiate-based medications" and had a dependence disorder with "vulnerability to addiction".

The report in June 2022 said Button recognised his use of prescription painkiller Tramadol had become "inappropriate".

Desperate to get back to work, he took a break from the drug, but by the time he started working for Linq Buslines in November 2022, he had re-commenced using Tramadol.

He continued to be prescribed Tramadol to the date of the bus crash, the facts state.

But, there was no record of Button disclosing his use to the company, despite a self-report required under Linq Buslines' drug and alcohol policy.

Blood tests at hospital after the bus crash revealed Button had consumed a higher dose of Tramadol that day than what he had told police.

Even with his tolerance to his prescribed dose, his driving ability would have been impaired, the facts state.

Button had suffered a workplace injury in 1994, and told police after the crash that Tramadol helped dull neck pain associated with arthritis.

BUTTON was bantering and joking with his passengers on the way to the Wandin Estate wedding after picking them up from the Royal Hotel at Singleton.

He made jokes about "doing donuts" and commented how alcohol left people's systems faster than they would think.

The strange behaviour escalated on the way home when the bus left the wedding with 35 people on board at about 11.17pm.

"The offender turned on music and fostered a party atmosphere," the facts state.

Multiple passengers concerned about Button's driving put on their seatbelts, while one woman said she was scared and her partner held her on his lap.

"If you liked that corner, you're going to like this one," Button told his passengers.

One passenger sitting close to the front of the bus commented: "This guy's going a bit fast, he's gone crazy."

Button replied: "Oh, it's nothing."

A haunting exchange took place as Button approached the roundabout on Wine Country Drive, which would soon become a scene of total devastation.

"This next part's going to be fun," Button said.

"He's coming in hot," one man on the coach said.

"He's going too fast," a woman replied.

Another said "I'm scared"; one said "mate" to the offender; and someone said "slow down" as the bus navigated the roundabout.

The first call to emergency services was recorded at 11.32pm.

Four wedding guests travelling in a car behind the coach stopped and helped the walking wounded escape through the roof's manhole and ripped off the front windscreen.

The first emergency service workers to arrive described the crash site as a "warzone".

Nine people died at the scene and a 10^th died at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. Nine people were seriously injured, the other 16 were hurt to various degrees.

Button received a cut on his finger and was distressed.

The statement of facts reveal Button's speed was 52 kilometres per hour as he approached the roundabout, and increased to 56.48 kilometres per hour on the roundabout.

A collision reconstruction expert found the speed at which the rollover of the coach was likely was 31 kilometres per hour.

"You can't tip these buses, it doesn't make sense ... I guess I was just going too fast," Button told an officer at the scene.

He told police he wasn't looking at his speedometer but thought he had slowed to "like 30 or something".

TEN manslaughter charges were dropped against Button in a plea deal made earlier this month.

Some family members of victims have told the Herald of their devastation and heartbreak of the downgrade after reading confronting details of how the tragedy unfolded.

The charges will not be reinstated but families - including Matt Mullen and Adam Bray, two fathers of victims - are now pushing for reform after meeting with the state's Attorney-General.

Mr Mullen's wife Leanne, mother of Singleton doctor Rebecca Mullen, spoke publicly of her heartbreak at the plea deal and her torment after the crash.

She said via a statement in parliament that she had endured the pain of her daughter's body remaining at the crash site for 48 hours.

"I did that because I had a strong belief, a trust, that in sacrificing my rights as a mother to hold my daughter close as she left this earth the police were gathering evidence that could be used to ensure justice was done in relation to this crime," she said.

"Accountability would come by using the evidence they collected over those 48 hours.

"That my sacrifice as a mum would be worth something meaningful in time.

"Sadly, it wasn't the case. My daughter and her friends weren't worth the effort of a trial."

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has said previously the plea deal decision was made after close and careful consideration of the evidence, in accordance with prosecution guidelines, after consultation with families of the victims.

THE bus rollover at Greta late at night on June 11 last year was Australia's worst road disaster in decades, and sent shockwaves across tight-knit Hunter communities and the nation.

Darcy Bulman, Rebecca Mullen, Zachary Bray, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Kane Symons, mother and daughter Nadene and Kyah McBride, and husband and wife Andrew and Lynan Scott, lost their lives.

Several were members of the Singleton community and the local Roosters AFL club.

A family-made memorial garden has been nurtured at the crash site, and a permanent memorial is set to be unveiled nearby in time for the momentous one-year anniversary on June 11.