Driver kicks 18 children off of school bus, leaves them stranded

A student who was one of more than a dozen children kicked off a school bus in Queensland, Australia has revealed what she thinks set the driver off.

Emily, aged just 12, was one of 18 students ordered off their school bus south of Brisbane last week about 6 miles from their destination.

Children as young as five and from three different schools were found wandering the streets just before 2 am, according to one mother.

Speaking to A Current Affair on Friday, Emily revealed she believed a number of children were rough-housing on the bus.

All passengers were then ordered off by the female driver.

“A couple of kids were wrestling for a couple of seconds … Then the bus driver pulled over and asked us who it was,” Emily said.

Emily, who was with her seven-year-old sister Ellie, told host Ally Langdon some of the students pointed out the culprits.

But, when they were startled to wrestle again after being asked by the driver to stop, the driver made the fateful decision to kick all the students off.

“She pulled over and got off the bus and would not get back on and then she kicked us all off,” Emily said.

“I did not really know what to do when the bus driver got off the bus.”

Sister Ellie added: “It was like a long way from home … and I was really scared.”

She told A Current Affair she had “no doubt” the young boy could have been in a road accident if she hadn’t taken him.

“It was so dangerous and it makes me sick thinking about it,” she told host Ally Langdon.

The boy’s mother, Kate, told the same program what the driver had done was “unforgivable”.

Gemma Pfingst told the Today Show on Friday she received a call from her daughters shortly before 4 pm.

“They nearly got hit by a car, it was pretty scary,” Ms. Pfingst told Today on Friday.

“She (Emily) only told us where they were because of a dog we had rescued recently, so we knew where she was.”

Ms. Pfingst said she also helped collect five-year-old student Bobby who had been stranded with the others.

In a statement, Translink confirmed the driver was no longer employed by partner Bus Queensland.

“Translink requested delivery partner Bus Queensland investigate this incident after receiving complaints from parents,” the statement read.

“Bus Queensland has taken immediate disciplinary action against the driver, while the incident and the events leading up to it are reviewed.

“Translink apologizes for the distress caused by this incident and it does not meet our expectations of delivery partners.”