THREE teenagers were taken to hospital after being overcome by fumes on a school bus.

The 16-year-old girls, pupils of St Mary's College, Blackburn, were taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary after the incident on a Stagecoach Ribble bus at 8am yesterday.

One of the pupils complained to the driver after noticing a smell as the bus travelled from Accrington to the college.

The driver, Brian Walsh, stopped the bus and checked the engine and the back of the bus but could find nothing wrong.

Pupils complained twice more and both times the driver stopped and checked the engine. He tried to phone the depot but could get no answer and decided to continue. At the college, Lucy Studholme, of Limefield Street, Accrington, Zoe Halstead, of Brooklyn Close, Clayton-le-Moors, and Rebecca Halliwell, of Meadowside Avenue, Clayton-le-Moors, were found to be suffering from the effects of fumes. They were taken to hospital and released later that day.

Police inspected the vehicle and found a blown gasket had allowed antifreeze to trickle on to the hot engine and evaporate to form ethanol vapours.

It was not detectable when the engine was switched off.

The girls had all been sitting downstairs on the back seat, directly above the engine compartment.

Michael Chambers, managing director for Stagecoach Ribble, said all the buses were checked every three weeks. He said the driver had offered to stop the bus but the pupils had wanted to continue because they had exams.

"This is not in anyway a regular occurrence or one that we were aware of previously," he said.

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