‘Fans stranded by drug drivers’

A COACHLOAD of football fans were left stranded in Brighton after a Premier League match, when both their bus drivers failed drug-driving tests and were arrested.

Up to fifty Newcastle FC fans made the trip for the match on April 27 last year. But after watching the Magpies lose a 1-0 lead, they found they had no way to get home.

Michael Saunderson, 49, of Rosalind Street in Ashington, Northumberland, failed to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday, but was convicted in his absence. He will be sentenced at the same court on March 27.