THE death of a 12-year-old boy has prompted renewed calls for "guardians" to be present on buses when there are large groups of schoolchildren on board.

Jamie Lee Wells died on Friday, after slipping as he tried to get down through the open doors of a moving bus in Middlesbrough.

Police are investigating the possibility that children on the bus had been misbehaving before the accident, at the junction of Burlam Road and Roman Road.

Now bus drivers say their calls for guardians to accompany children on buses doing school runs must be taken seriously.

Allan Gray, who represents bus drivers on the Transport and General Workers' Union, said: "For quite some time nationally the trade union movement has been asking for guardians on buses. In our opinion where there are multitudes of school children there should be a guardian on the bus.

"It's very difficult for one person operating a vehicle to be able to control what's going on inside the vehicle. We want guardians mainly for the protection of the children. Children will be children at the end of the day and there is unfortunately some unruly ones and some that don't realise the danger when they are travelling at speed."

Shaun Madderson, a former driver for Stagecoach which operates the bus service Jamie was travelling on, said the company had ignored drivers' pleas for assistance with schoolchildren.

"I have been involved in quite a lot of incidents in Middlesbrough where children have nearly come to harm and I have filled in report forms. But the inspectors at Stagecoach management do not want to know. They refused to accept the fact that there was a problem.

"When you are driving a bus you have to keep your eyes on the road and you can't stop kids from running up and down or trying to get off. What's needed is better safety features or someone there to keep an eye on them.

"All the drivers have said 'is someone going to get seriously hurt or killed before you do anything?'."

A Stagecoach spokesman said the company did not want to comment until the police investigation into Jamie's death had been completed.