Sam Strangeways experienced first-hand the problems bus drivers have to cope with. She says it is not the fault of the companies or the drivers... but the children.

THE Number 24 bus. The very words fill me with a deep sense of dread.

For years, while a pupil at Acklam Grange School and long after, I avoided that bus to the best of my ability.

Sometimes, of course, I could not. When I had to go into town after school or carry something heavy home, I had to catch it. And it was, without exception, always a ghastly experience.

The 24 was - perhaps still is - notorious.

At the time, the late-1980s, the route was used by pupils from five comprehensive schools.

The schools' finishing times were staggered, in part so the bus could cope with the volume of pupils.

At four o'clock, my school's leaving time, it was normally mayhem on the 24.

Pupils ran up and down the aisles, shouting, swearing, abusing other passengers or the driver, fighting with one another, smoking . . . I could go on.

For less robust pupils, it was unpleasant.

Bullying was common and the driver, attempting to steer the bus down Acklam Road at rush-hour, was pretty powerless to stop it.

For adults, particularly the many pensioners who used the route, it could easily turn into a terrifying experience.

An onslaught of spitting, screaming and objects thrown would sometimes welcome passengers.

Drivers would occasionally stop the vehicle and roar at the unruly pupils. It rarely did much good.

No wonder then that so many would walk more than half-a-mile out of their way to catch another bus than brave that journey from hell.