Greymouth police have forbidden the elderly bus driver who became ill while driving school students home on Tuesday from getting back behind the wheel, after details emerged of a second incident.
Eighty-two-year-old Peter Brown, who has 65 years of experience in driving buses, has rejected reports from Greymouth High School students aboard his Ritchies' bus that he weaved over the road, hit road pegs and drove through a compulsory stop sign on a hair-raising trip home on Tuesday afternoon.
Today, police revealed that he was also alleged to have side-swiped cars parked on Main South Road, near the Karoro School, about one hour earlier.
Sergeant Mark Dixon, the officer in charge of the traffic unit on the West Coast, said police believed the incident involved the same driver.
About 2.45pm on Tuesday a bus travelling north along Main South Road swerved to the left and "struck several cars,'' parked on the roadside.
Mr Dixon said the bus was returning from Shantytown and was full of pupils and teachers from Blaketown School.
A woman was sitting inside one of the parked vehicles when the bus side-swiped the wing mirror; she reported the incident to the police. The bus driver did not stop after hitting the cars at Karoro.
"We also received reports the following day (Wednesday) about the Grey Valley incident,'' Mr Dixon said.
He stressed the need for parents, caregivers and teachers to immediately report any incidents on school buses.
"Had we received reports of the later incident the inquiry would have not been so disjointed.''
The son-in-law of the woman whose car was hit at Karoro said she was "pretty shaken up'' by the incident.
The entire wing mirror was ripped off - "only wires were left hanging out''.
Sergeant Dixon said the driver now had to undergo a medical review before he could drive again, and police were in the process of revoking his licence.
