Chinese police say parents unfazed after driver of overloaded ‘school bus’ detained
Man was driving 20 pupils to school in a seven-seater van without a licence when he failed a breath test
Police in a town in southwest China say some parents are not cooperating with an investigation into a man detained for illegally driving their children to and from school in an overloaded van because they want him to resume the service, a local newspaper reports.
The 36-year-old driver, surnamed Zhao, was arrested on December 7 in the town of Fuhong in Chengdu, Sichuan province, a week after he was found to be driving 20 pupils to school in a seven-seater van, Chengdu Commercial Daily reported on Tuesday.
Police told the newspaper Zhao was driving without a licence and had failed a breath test. He has been in detention since December but has not been charged.
Officers stopped the vehicle after noticing it was being driven erratically and the back of the van appeared to be weighed down, the report said.
According to police, 20 young children were found in the van. Zhao told officers he had been hired by their parents to take them to and from a local primary school every day for 140 yuan (US$21) a month per child.