A drunken bus driver who put his passengers in peril by speeding dangerously and crashing into cars has been banned from the road.
James Campbell consumed alcohol as he was driving and let passengers – including children – onto his buses, a court heard.
He even fell asleep at the wheel over and over again during the shameful episode in West Lothian on 15 January 2022, Livingston Sheriff Court was told.
The professional driver passed other vehicles where there were bold ‘no overtaking’ lines and frequently weaved from the left to the right side of the road.
He also repeatedly crossed into the opposing carriageway and straddled both lanes of the road while driving at excessive speeds.
The indictment charge against him states that he also reversed repeatedly into and damaged a luxury white Mercedes sports utility vehicle being driven by John Caddle, whose address was given as c/o Police Scotland.
During one 'asleep at the wheel' episode he swerved into a junction and crashed into a black Nissan X-Trail driven by Lesley Wyper, damaging that vehicle as well.
His drunken trips in big Volvo buses took him along roads in Livingston, Blackridge, Bathgate, Linlithgow, Dechmont, the A706 between Linlithgow and Bo’ness and along the busy A89 artery linking Edinburgh and Bathgate.
Police finally ended his bus driving career on the approach road to Dobbie’s Garden Centre at Livingston where, after being stopped, he refused to comply with a roadside breath test.
The charge states that PC Susan Nisbet, who asked for him to blow into a breathalyser, reasonably suspected that he’d been driving one of the buses “while having alcohol or drugs in his body or being under the influence of a drug”.
Campbell, 59, of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, who is understood to have been working for Lothian Country Buses at the time, pleaded guilty on Monday to dangerous driving and failing to provide a preliminary breath test.
His not guilty pleas to two charges of failing to stop after an accident and refusing to identify who was driving the vehicles involved were accepted by the Crown.
Campbell wore a ski mask covering his entire face in a bid to avoid being identified as he arrived at court and repeatedly hid his features with his hands as he waited in the corridor for his case to be called.
Neil Martin, prosecuting, said the amended plea was acceptable to the prosecution and moved for sentence.
Campbell’s lawyer James Walker reserved his plea in mitigation but presented the court with a number of documents which he said might be of assistance to the sentencing sheriff.
Given the nature of the cases Sheriff Susan Craig remarked: “I absolutely have to get reports.”
She said she was not toying with Campbell when she said he hoped he appreciated he was seriously facing a custodial sentence.
She added: “I’m not going to deal with this matter today because you don’t really have a record to speak of.
“Because of the seriousness of the matter you have pled guilty to today and given the nature of the Section 2 charge you’re going to be disqualified from driving ad interim from this moment.
“You’ll be told the length of the disqualification on the next occasion.”
She urged Campbell to be proactive and get in touch with social workers tasked with preparing the report into his background if he had not heard from them within a week.
He is due to return for sentencing by a different sheriff next month. The prosecution said a narration of events would be read to the court then.
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