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A school bus driver who was found to be driving a bus filled with schoolchildren while four times over the alcohol limit has avoided being sent to prison.

Peter Gray, 43, of Drumadoon Drive in Dundonald, admitted two offences of driving with excess alcohol.

The offences happened on 19 March and 11 May this year.

District Judge Mark Hamill said Gray's actions were “appalling” and they could have resulted in “catastrophic” consequences.

Gray was handed an 18-month probation order along with 200 hours of community service and a five-year driving ban.

The court heard at about 16:30 on 19 March 2024 the Education Board asked police to attend the Ulster Hospital after reports a bus driver had been driving while intoxicated.

When police arrived at the scene they found Gray with children still aboard the bus.

A blood sample taken from Gray showed an analysis reading of 331, more than four times the legal limit of 80.

In a different incident on 11 May 2024, police attended Asda car park in Dundonald after reports of a road traffic collision where they found Gray intoxicated at the wheel of a car.

He failed an initial preliminary breath test and an evidential sample gave a reading of 189, more than five times the legal limit of 35.

Judge Hamill revealed that according to the pre-sentence report Gray “had thoughts of killing himself and the children”.

Defence counsel Conan Rea told the judge that Gray had entered a guilty plea at the earlier opportunity, had no previous convictions and was undergoing a mental health crisis at the time.

Mr Rea suggested that supervised and assisted probation would be in everyone’s “best interests".

Judge Hamill said it was clear that Gray was not mentally well, and that he did not want to “impose custody on someone who is ill”.

However, he repeated that the incident could have been “catastrophic".

“I’m trying to do something constructive here but this could have been a Crown Court case with a tragic outcome," the judge added.