A bus company has sacked a driver who nearly hit a little girl crossing a road in Newport earlier this month. Newport Transport has taken action against the driver who was captured on CCTV narrowly missing the girl on Somerton Road in Newport on October 13.
The shocking footage showed Courtney Flynn, now seven, and her mum Tracy walking across the pedestrian crossing near a primary school while the green man was on. Courtney was seen running across the road and the bus can be seen driving through the crossing, narrowly missing her. However, after initially hitting the brakes to avoid a collision, the driver then appears to continue on without stopping.
Mum Tracy later said that "one second sooner" and her daughter would have been run over. She said the incident had left her shocked as it happened just days before her daughter's seventh birthday. "Every time I think how close she came to not seeing her birthday I feel sick inside," the 32-year-old said at the time.
Read more: Girl nearly hit by bus that ploughs through crossing while the green man light is on
"We were waiting on the pavement for the lights to change - I'd always taught her and her brother to wait for the solid green man light to show before stepping out. Neither of us saw the bus coming at all."
Tracy added that were it not for Courtney "jumping back at the last second" things could've ended in tragedy. "She could so easily have ended up under the front wheels."
Newport Transport has now confirmed it has sacked the driver following an internal review and said it was "deeply sorry" for what had happened.
Scott Pearson, managing director of Newport Transport, said: "We are deeply sorry for the distress caused to Courtney and her family. We took immediate action and suspended the driver from service.
"Following the completion of the internal review, the driver has now been dismissed from the company. Safety is paramount to us, our drivers undergo extensive training to ensure the safety of our passengers, pedestrians and other road users and we conduct continuous competency audits.
"We expect our staff to drive professionally at all times, and where that does not happen, we will always take swift action."
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