Fire forces driver to get kids off bus

Inglewood's school children will be writing some very exciting stories after their bus caught on fire during a school trip yesterday.

Bus driver Alan Curtis had to rush 40 pupils off his vehicle when smoke started pouring out of the engine and he feared it was going to ignite.

"Trying to get them off was a bit of a problem because they were worried about their bags and I was worried the bus was going to burst into flames," Mr Curtis said.

However, all of the children escaped unharmed and were quickly piled into another bus and sent on their merry way to the New Plymouth pools for the afternoon.

Inglewood Primary School principal Karen Patterson said she was pleased with the way the situation had been handled.

The accident had happened only minutes after Mr Curtis had picked the children up, just past the Inglewood High School, she said.

Mr Curtis was yet to discover what had caused the fire.