Bus-ted!

The Blackpool Transport ‘Driver Training Bus’ was spotted parked up on Squires Gate Lane for more than 10 minutes while two members of staff nipped to get food from the nearby M & M Butty Bar.

A stunned dad who spotted the scene from his window in Ensign Court, across the road from where the bus pulled up, today told The Gazette of his astonishment.

He said: “I couldn’t believe it - the bus pulled up, two blokes got out, walked across the road and went to get a butty. The driver stayed in his seat doing some paperwork and it must have been a good 10 minutes before they came back and then the bus drove off.

“The fact it was a bus used to train other drivers makes it even worse - you couldn’t make it up.”

The Gazette sent the image to Blackpool Transport which today promised an investigation was underway.

Bob Mason, service delivery director at Blackpool Transport, said: “We are carrying out an internal investigation as to why one of our training buses was parked as your reader describes and will take any necessary corrective action.

“In the interim we apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the vehicle being parked in the said location.”

The dad, who asked not to be named, said the bus had no need to park there – as there was space to park just beyond the junction with Stonyhill Avenue outside the sandwich shop and other units on Squires Gate Lane.

He said: “Right outside the row of shops are spaces to park and beyond that a bus stop – but instead they chose to stop there oblivious to the problems it could have caused.

“It’s a bad junction anyway and any cars coming out of Stonyhill Avenue will have had no chance seeing if any cars were coming down the hill because the bus was blocking their view.

“Cars fly down Squires Gate Lane at way more than the speed limit anyway and with the bus parked there, it reduced it to one lane making things worse. There’s been several accidents on this part of the road.

“The fact it had ‘Driver Training Bus’ written all over it makes it even more laughable!”

Squires Gate Lane has been the scene of numerous accidents in recent years.

In the most notable, gran Maureen Langley, 63, suffered horrendous leg injuries when she was struck in a suspected hit and run a few hundred yards further along the road, near Sandgate. The driver was never found.

And great-grandfather Christopher Leyland, 67, of Newlyn Court, died from multiple injuries after colliding with a bus near the junciton with Lindale Gardens. A coroner later delivered a verdict of accidental death at a subsequent inquest.