Book reading bus driver suspended

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYzMa_0lHHg

A bus driver has been suspended after being caught on camera reading a book while driving a double decker around Birmingham.

The National Express West Midlands driver was filmed by a passenger apparently steering the number 61 bus in Selly Oak with his elbows, holding a small book and flicking through the pages.

The driver has now been warned he faces the sack, after the footage was captured as he travelled along Bristol Road South shortly after 8pm on Monday evening.

Bosses at the bus operator, the biggest in the region, took "immediate action" to suspend the driver and have now begun disciplinary action.

A passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, later posted the video on video sharing website YouTube, sparking outrage from viewers.

The anonymous cameraman said: "I filmed this driver openly reading some sort of book this evening, and driving the bus with his elbows on the Bristol Road South outward bound of the city. He didn't even put the book down when he came to bus stops.

"Unfortunately my camera ran out of memory to record before I ended my journey, but the following stop he pulled in at, he couldn't even be bothered to take one hand off of his enticing read to indicate."

The footage, which is more than a minute long, appears to show the driver holding the book with both hands and leafing through pages with his fingers while resting his elbows on the wheel along the dual carriageway.

He briefly puts the book down to stops and let more passengers on, before picking it up again and carrying on flicking through the book.

The footage has now been viewed hundreds of times, attracting comments from shocked viewers.

National Express West Midlands spokeswoman Carly O'Donnell said: "Immediate action was taken to suspend the driver who will now face disciplinary action.

"It's not appropriate to predict the outcome but an incident of this type is likely to lead to a dismissal.

"Passenger safety is always our priority and it is completely unacceptable for any driver to behave in this manner."