Police quiz horror ride bus driver

Police have interviewed a school bus driver whose passengers complained of a frightening limited-stops ride through Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges, but have yet to decide whether to press charges.

A spokeswoman said yesterday police had taken a statement from the driver, and would speak to him again before making a decision.

Police were also speaking with the two schools — Green Bay High and Glen Eden Intermediate — whose students complained of being taken in the Ritchies Transport doubledecker bus in bad weather to the far side of Huia, after the relief driver refused to let them off along the winding 10km from Laingholm on Monday afternoon.

Police also intended to contact the parents of a Green Bay student who injured his foot jumping out of the moving bus, among several others, after one pressed an emergency button to open a door.

Although other high school students also got out at Huia, distressed intermediate children aged from 11 were dropped near their homes on a return trip. The injured student has been discharged from Starship children’s hospital.

Ritchies director Andrew Ritchie said he had complied with a Ministry of Education request to take the driver off school bus duties during its own investigation, but said the company remained “fully supportive” of him by giving him other work.

A parent of a 12-year-old boy on the bus said the company “doesn’t have a leg to stand on” and even if some kids were behaving badly “you don’t penalise the innocent ones”.