A FAMILY had the bus ride from hell after almost being locked in a depot over night after the driver failed to check that vehicle was empty.

Martin Leigh says the experiences has given his daughters nightmares.

The Leigh family from Gosport, had spent the day in Winchester after father Martin, 54, had been to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital to receive the results of a scan on his foot.

After a day out in the city, the baker from Albert Street, his wife Kayleigh, 30, and their daughters Phoebe, five, and Amy, nine, jumped aboard what they thought was the 5.10pm 69 stagecoach bus to Fareham.

The Leighs settled in on the top deck for what they thought was going to be a long bus ride home.

However, after the bus left Waltham Chase, it began to speed up and eventually ended up at the Botley Bus park, although the Leighs didn’t realise this at the time.

“ The bus stopped and the driver got out. We thought maybe he just needed the toilet or was changing over.

“He then came back and we pulled into what looked like an industrial estate.”

The driver then got out and locked the bus, trapping the family inside.

“The kids were screaming.”

“We all ran to the back of the bus and started banging on the window. Thankfully he noticed us and let us out otherwise we would have been stuck in there overnight.”

“I don’t know how he didn’t realise we were up there with two kids chatting away, we weren’t exactly silent.”

“He never checked the bus, or said he was at the last stop.”

The driver then let the family out of the bus and told them that there were no bus stops close by and they would have to get a train home.

Mr Leigh said that the family couldn’t afford the train and had paid for a bus day ticket. However, the driver told him it wasn’t his problem.

After the leaving the Botley bus parking yard, the family began to walk towards Wickham but were luckily picked up by a good samaritan working at the Silver Lake automotive recycling centre, who insisted on giving the family a lift back to Gosport.

“He was a star, I couldn’t thank him enough,” Mr Leigh said.

“My daughters have been traumatised by the experience and have had nightmares as a result.”

A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “We are extremely disappointed and concerned at the circumstances in which a family were left on one of our buses returning to the Botley bus parking yard.

“A full internal investigation will be conducted.

“All drivers are expected to check their buses at the end of the journey but this clearly did not occur in this instance. We would like to apologise to Mr Leigh and his family for the distress caused, and we will be reminding staff of the importance to inspect the vehicle at the end of service.”