School bus driver Roger Wells, 63, has been convicted of careless driving after he injured 12 pupils when he slammed on the brakes on his bus in a fit of rage.
He was fined on Wednesday and had to pay costs totalling £1600 at Lewes Crown Court and also given ten penalty points, which means he is not banned and can still drive on the roads.
Wells shouted “f***ing stop ringing that bell” before increasing speed “faster than usual” and then screeching to a halt with an overloaded bus full of schoolchildren.
One schoolboy on the top deck needed treatment after the driver hit the brakes so hard that he was flung forward and slammed into the front windscreen, causing it to crack.
Top deck of a Hams Travel double decker bus
Children had irritated him by repeatedly ringing the bell and he reacted by hitting the brakes hard. The court was told the extreme force used by Mr Wells hitting the brakes caused children on the bus to scream in panic.
A jury heard Mr Wells lost his temper and swore at the children after the bell used to stop the bus was rung continuously.
Roger Wells arriving at Lewes Crown Court this week
Prosecutor Richard Barton said the driver’s “red mist descended” as he was driving children home from Uplands Community College in Wadhurst, East Sussex, on October 17, 2018, after he shouted at the kids to stop ringing the bell.
“One or many more of the children on this very crowded bus repeatedly rang the bell for it to stop. No matter how annoying this was, it cannot be a justification for what happened after,” said Mr Barton, who told the court that parents and pupils have a legitimate expectation they will be safe when travelling on a school bus.
The double decker bus, supplied by Hams Travel had a capacity of 84 but was overloaded with 98 children on board from Uplands Community College, a secondary school with students aged 11-18.
Richard Barton said: “He drove off, children will say faster than usual. Those standing up were swaying. Unfortunately somebody on that bus carried on ringing the bell and that was the trigger. He stopped with such force, that a pole was wrenched out and some ended up on the floor and the pole hit other children sitting down.
A Hams Travel double decker bus
“This is all about the red mist descending. This is about anger. It caused him to do something he wouldn’t normally do.
“Every child was thrown forward. Upstairs the same occurred. One of the children had just got up because he was about to get off. He was at the top of the stairs. That boy was propelled forward so his head hit the front windscreen with such force that it broke the windscreen. There were children crying, extremely traumatised, trying to phone their parents.”
Wells got out of his cab and stepped over children lying in the gangway to replace the pole which had been ripped off, Mr Barton said.
Hams Travel suspended Wells after the incident.
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