A SCHOOL bus driver slammed on his brakes in a fit of anger, injuring 12 pupils, after one of them continually rang the bell.

Children on board the double decker screamed in panic as they were thrown forward when he hit the brakes as hard as he could, a court heard.

One boy on the top deck needed treatment after he was slammed into the front windscreen, cracking it.

Driver Roger Wells, 63, lost his temper and swore at the children after the bell to call for a stop was rung continually, a jury was told.

Richard Barton, prosecuting, said the “red mist descended” and the driver slammed on the breaks with catastrophic results.

Wells was driving children home from Uplands Community College in Wadhurst on October 17, 2018, when he shouted at his passengers to stop ringing the bell.

Parents and pupils have a legitimate expectation they will be safe when travelling on a school bus, Mr Barton told the court.

“This case, sadly, is about this defendant who behaved in a way which was manifestly reckless, dangerous,” he said.

“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.

“It made him sufficiently angry to stop the bus in the middle of the road.

“He’s an adult, they’re on his bus, they say he swore at them and said ‘stop ringing the bell’.

“It didn’t stop, he went upstairs and shouted the same.

“He was clearly losing his temper.”

The double decker bus, supplied by Hams Travel, with capacity for 84, was overloaded with 98 children on board.

“This is all about the red mist descending,” Mr Barton said. “This is about anger.

“It caused him to do something he wouldn’t normally do.

“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.“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.”

The driver 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: “He did what he’d threatened and drove back to the school.

“He certainly didn’t stop, having been involved in a road traffic accident.

“He didn’t check on any of the children.

“When he got back to the school, he left the bus and closed the door behind him.”

Wells denies driving without due care and attention and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

The trial at Lewes Crown Court continues.

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