School bus had no 0-licence
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• An unlicensed mini-bus operator, who ran a school bus service, escaped with an absolute discharge and an order to pay £30 prosecution costs last week, when he admitted before Brigg magistrates to using and driving a mini-bus without a PSV operator's licence or a PSV driving licence.
Prosecuting for the North Eastern Traffic Area, Robert Willcox said that observations had been kept on a mini-bus belonging to Benjamin Davis of Malton Road, Wrawby. A traffic examiner had seen the vehicle pick up 12 school children in the Brigg area, dropping them off at two schools in Caister.
When interviewed, Davis had admitted that he had been paid E323. 60p since he had begun carrying the children, and that he was aware of the PSV licensing provisions he should have been observing.
Davis's defence said he bought the mini-bus when he lost his job as a milkman, not wishing to be a burden on the State. He had attempted to obtain advice from his local vehicle examiner, who had told him to get in touch with the traffic examiner. The traffic examiner had been on annual leave and David had started running the service. It was an accident that he had found himself "out of line". He had stopped running the service immediately, selling the minibus at a loss of £400. Davis is now unemployed.