A Ross-on-Wye bus driver who drove off with a traffic examiner on board has been disqualified from professional driving for 12 months after the West Midlands Traffic Commissioner, Nick Denton, said he’d chosen the “path of confrontation” in dealing with government officials.

Michael Furnival, 66, of Primrose Close, Ross-on-Wye, was at Newent Community School on July 4th, 2017 when a traffic examiner from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) carried out a check on his driving licence.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) records indicated Mr Furnival’s passenger carrying vehicle (PCV) driving entitlement had expired on May 19th, 2017.

When the DVSA officer told Mr Furnival that he needed to make further enquiries, Mr Furnival said he was driving off the school premises to have a cigarette.

The examiner said he should not drive away until the checks had been made. However, Mr Furnival did so with the officer on board. The examiner had to press the emergency exit button in order to leave the vehicle.

When Mr Furnival returned to the school, another DVSA examiner approached the vehicle but he was shouted at by Mr Furnival. He then drove off at speed, forcing the officer to step backwards.

Further evidence from a public liaison officer claimed Mr Furnival had sworn and been angry and abusive in two phone calls.

As a result, Mr Furnival was called to a conduct hearing before the West Midlands Traffic Commissioner on February 22nd.

The DVSA traffic examiner told the regulator that subsequent investigations revealed Mr Furnival was entitled to drive a PCV. On the day of the agency’s encounter with Mr Furnival, the results of a medical test were being considered by the DVLA.

During his own evidence, Mr Furnival said he had given the DVSA examiner an opportunity to step off the bus before he drove away. He also claimed that the traffic examiner’s career was finished and subsequently left the conduct hearing, shouting that the Commissioner could take his licence away.

In a written decision, the Traffic Commissioner said Mr Furnival had displayed the same aggressive behaviour during the conduct hearing which had been described in DVSA’s reports.

He concluded that Mr Furnival’s conduct had been “bullying, threatening and wholly intemperate”, falling far short of that expected of a professional driver.