Looking back at December 7, 1996
A bus driver who slammed on the brakes to teach the primary school students on board a lesson lost his licence.
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Nowra Local Court Magistrate Doug Dick decided Bomaderry man Ian Martin Johnstone was not a fit and proper person to drive public transport buses.
The court heard Johnstone was driving the school bus taking students to Culburra Primary School.
Noticing some children were out of their seats, he slammed on the brakes, which sent children crashing into the seats in front of them and flying down the aisle.
All 21 students on board were treated at the school's sick bay after leaving the bus, a number with bumps and grazes to their heads and faces.
The next day Johnstone was met at each bus stop by angry parents demanding to know how their child had been injured.
"I didn't hear any loud bangs of children hitting the backs of seats or poles or anything like that," Johnstone told police in a record of interview.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
