A BUS company has introduced random breath tests for its own drivers after an employee was arrested for an alleged drink driving offence while on duty.

The move by Stagecoach Ribble comes five months after the firm began testing new members of staff and drivers renewing their licences for drug and alcohol abuse during medicals.

Managing director Michael Chambers said the latest development followed an incident in Blackburn last Thursday when a bus was in collision with a car.

He said the driver was due to appear before Blackburn magistrates and no longer worked for the company. The bus did not contain any passengers and nobody was injured in the incident.

Stagecoach Ribble, which operates throughout Clitheroe, Blackburn, Hyndburn and some services to Burnley, has now begun to randomly breathalyse drivers to check that they are not over the limit.

"We have always had a policy where if someone presented themselves in an unfit state to drive they would be refused duty.

"We cannot test every person every day, but we are taking it further with random tests. "The important thing to me and the company is to safeguard the safety of everyone concerned, the customers, general public and the employees themselves. "We take these measures very seriously and we are as strict if not stricter than other bus companies."

Police confirmed that a 50-year-old bus driver from Clitheroe was arrested in Mill Lane, Blackburn and charged with driving with excess alcohol. He will appear before Blackburn magistrates on June 19.

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