by staff reporter

Last updated 15:53, Wednesday, 19 March 2008

A COACH driver falsely accused of sexually assaulting two schoolgirls sent a warning to other drivers: “This nightmare could happen to you too.”

The girls, who are 15 but can’t be named, had accused John Carruthers, 72, of groping them on their school bus in West Cumbria.

But at Carlisle Crown Court he was cleared of all eight charges of sexual assault – six after the judge said there was no evidence to support them.

Afterwards Mr Carruthers, who has been a coach driver for 44 years, said he had ended up in court because he had dared to stand up to misbehaviour on the bus.

He said: “I am just scared for any other drivers now. They are such easy targets for this sort of allegation.”

Mr Carruthers, who was arrested by police who swooped on his home in Derwent Banks, Seaton, at 5.20am one day last June, said: “The last nine months have put me and my family through hell. The only thing that has kept me going was the knowledge that I was totally innocent.”

Mr Carruthers believes that the allegations arose because he would not stand for nonsense on his bus.

“I told them to behave themselves,” he said. “I stood up to trouble makers and they didn’t like it. You wouldn’t believe how some of them behave.”

Mr Carruthers said he regularly drove more than 60 pupils to and from school, and many of them behaved so badly he often had to stop the bus to tell them off.

“You can’t control the kids and drive the bus at the same time,” he said.

His wife Linda said: “It’s been a living hell, but at least justice has been done now.”

After the unanimous verdicts from the jury, the judge told Mr Carruthers: “You are free to go with your good name and reputation intact.”