The family of a driver involved in Britain’s worst tram accident laid flowers at a memorial ceremony to mark the centenary of the tragedy.

Albert Bissenden was behind the wheel at Crabble on August 19, 1917 when 11 people died, with 61 others injured.

A commemoration at Crabble Corn Mill was organised by the Dover Society and attended by Dover District Council chairman Sue Chandler as well as nine members of Mr Bissenden’s family including grandsons David and Alan.

A presentation was given by the Dover Tales storytelling group led by Barry O’Brien and supported by Ray Newsam, Caroline Fox-Betts and former town mayor Chris Precious.

Speeches and readings were accompanied by Paul Cheneour on flute.

The script was drawn from and inspired by various reports and correspondence published at the time of the crash.

Afterward Bissenden family members visited the scene along with Dover Society chairman Derek Leach and local historian Lorraine Sencicle. David gave a short but moving speech, and Alan laid the bouquet for the victims just below the Dover Society’s memorial plaque.

It was Britain’s seventh tram crash during the First World War and one of six fatal ones.

The number 20 tram crashed at Crabble Road, River on a Sunday afternoon when it went out of control and hit the northern parapet of the River Dour Bridge.

It then overturned at the bottom of the second bend of Crabble Road and the upper deck smashed into the wall.

Among the 11 dead was conductress Lottie Scrase while 61 people, including nine military personnel, were injured.

The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death adding that the crash had been caused by the error of judgement of an inexperienced driver.

Mr Bissenden had only five weeks’ experience, yet was working a hazardous route into River with treacherous bends and a steep gradient.

Seasoned drivers would stop the tram in time at the top of Crabble Road by turning off the control key and cutting off the power. That was the best way to make its brakes work fully. Mr Bissenden failed to do this so the tram was on full power from the top of the incline.

His inexperience made him both fail to turn off the engine at the right time and place and unable to rectify the mistake.

An aggravating featured was that the 48-seater tram was overloaded with 70 people. Also the tracks had been in disrepair for three years as money and materials were diverted to the war effort.

Mr Bissenden had escaped unhurt by jumping clear but other passengers got out to try to physically stop the tram. This caused more casualties as some people’s limbs were caught in the rails.

The wreckage took two weeks to clear and for the next two years no passengers were allowed on the top decks in River.

Mr Bissenden, a Dover man, was an ex-First World War soldier who had volunteered as a private in the Army Ordnance Corps and was sent to Egypt where he suffered a nervous breakdown.

He was discharged in February 1917 but made a full recovery.

Dover’s tram system began in 1897 but the River route was only 12 years old.