A BUS driver said she was swamped by unruly schoolchildren on a journey which ended with a 12-year-old boy fatally injured under the wheels of the double decker.

Appearing at Teesside Crown Court, Deborah White, 41, of Hollinside Road, Billingham, has denied causing the death of Jamie Wells by dangerous driving.

In police interviews after the accident Ms White described how she was driving a Stagecoach service bus in the Acklam area of Middlesbrough on March 8 last year when about 30 children scrambled on board.

Half of them did not pay their fare, and others misused emergency door handles, which meant she could not close them from her cab.

She said one child repeatedly banged on the panel behind her, another threw a can at her and others set off the alarm on the upper deck by opening the emergency door.

She said in a statement: "They just swamped me."

There was often trouble on the route, she said, but the journey on March 8 had been worse than any she could remember. Ms White admitted that the doors of the bus remained open while she drove along Burlam Road, in the Linthorpe area of the town.

Nicholas Campbell, prosecuting, had said it was the Crown's case that her driving the vehicle with open doors was dangerous and had led to the death of Jamie.

A number of children questioned by defence counsel Tim Roberts told how Jamie had been prevented by bullies from getting off at his stop. After eventually struggling past them he stepped off the moving vehicle and was run over. He was taken to Middlesbrough General Hospital but died two hours later in the operating theatre.

The trial continues.