130 pupils crammed into bus‚ driver arrested

A Port Elizabeth bus driver was arrested on Thursday for overloading after he was caught allegedly transporting 130 pupils – 40 more than allowed.

Twenty minutes later‚ a taxi driver was arrested for allegedly transporting 40 passengers and not having a driver’s licence.

The arrests are part of operations to assess scholar transport vehicles such as minibuses and buses.

Traffic department superintendent Livingstone Simakuhle said a 49-year-old bus driver was pulled over at a roadblock in Markman shortly before 8am.

“The children were en route to Vulumzi Secondary School in Motherwell‚” Simakuhle said.

“For this specific bus‚ the licence allows them to carry 65 passengers sitting and an additional 25 passengers standing.

“He was overloaded by 40 passengers.” The driver was arrested and the bus impounded.

Simakuhle said a traffic official had first driven the bus to the school‚ where the children were dropped off.

The Herald