A bus driver died in a “complete inferno” after driving directly into boulders on a narrow mountain road to try to save his passengers, an inquest has heard.

Maurice Wrightson, 63, from Ashington in Northumberland, had been descending the precarious D211 road from the Alpe d’Huez ski resort in France with a coach full of British staff on 16 April 2013.

As he approached the 21st hairpin bend, Wrightson became aware the brakes had failed and decided to smash into the mountainside rather than attempt the corner.

As flames engulfed the coach, passengers tried desperately to escape through the broken windows. One woman sustained severe burns in the blaze.

French investigators concluded that Wrightson had “undoubtedly prevented” the more serious consequences of the vehicle leaving the road.

The coroner’s court in Berwick heard from Wrightson’s co-driver, Nathan Woodland, 39, who also worked for Classic Coaches, which is based in County Durham.

Describing Wrightson as “old school and a very good driver”, Woodland said his colleague had not been worried by the steep, winding road and had been in no rush.

But after going through a small chicane, he said he felt the bus twitch and became aware something was wrong.

Woodland said: “I could see the road all the way down to turn 21, the distance was about half a mile. The gradient was not that steep compared to other bits, but suddenly Maurice looked at me with a very shocked look on his face.

“He said: ‘It’s not stopping us, it’s not stopping us.’ I could tell immediately something was very wrong.”

Woodland said Wrightson began to grip the wheel very tightly and braced himself against his seat to apply more pressure to the brake.

“The coach was not gaining speed, but it was not decelerating, the brakes were not stopping us,” he said. “I stepped into the aisle and shouted: ‘Grab a hold, hold tight’.”

Woodland described how the coach smashed into the boulders and he was thrown several rows back.

He said as he rose to his feet he saw people trying to escape as flames engulfed the coach, which quickly turned into a “complete inferno”.

“There was a girl who had been sat behind the driver’s seat, her clothes were on fire. A man was trying to get her off the coach and douse the fire on her clothes at the same time,” Woodland said.

Emergency services arrived about 25 minutes later; four passengers were seriously injured.

The French transport minister, Frédéric Cuvillier, was reported as saying at the time: “The driver showed remarkable courage. The witnesses all agree that his acts and his attitude meant a much heavier loss of life was avoided.”

The inquest heard the French report concluded the cause had been “the failing of the main brake, the pads of which had been completely destroyed by excessive heating”.

The jury heard this was a result of the “poor condition of the hydraulic retarder”.