A coach driver has been given a 10-year driving ban after letting schoolchildren travel in a coach’s underfloor luggage locker.
At a driver conduct hearing, Traffic Commissioner (TC) Kevin Rooney disqualified Richard Short, 49, from holding a PCV licence until 2028.
South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach had sacked Mr Scott after the incident, and reported him to the TC.
CCTV footage showed that Mr Short had driven for around one minute with a child in the locker on a morning run, and then seven children for around three minutes on the afternoon run.
There were also multiple occasions where a child stood alongside Mr Short while he was driving.
Mr Short, who had worked for a number of operators, said he was continually pestered by the ringleader of a group of “demanding” children.
He said that in the end he gave in, they would be less troublesome. He admitted he gave in in a “moment of madness.”
The TC said: “I do not underestimate how difficult that can be at times for drivers but there is always an option simply to stop. Children have to be kept under control.
“It is in the interests of all operators that drivers who lose their jobs for dangerous or reckless acts are brought to the attention of the TC, rather than simply being allowed to move on to the next unsuspecting employer.”
