Schoolboy Dylan Ewers was appalled when he saw minibus drivers using their mobile phones while taking children to school. So he decided to do something about it – by turning detective.
The 14-year-old used his own mobile phone to video the rogue drivers as they broke the law. And his efforts have been praised by a judge after the teenager helped bring two law-flouters to justice.
His videos were used as evidence to convict John Phillips, 41, and Leslie Seswick, 40, who were both employed to drive children living in rural areas to school on the seven-seater minibus.
Each man got a £500 fine and three penalty points after Dylan became concerned that the drivers flouted the road rules, using their mobile phones while negotiating winding country roads in South Wales.
The footage was enough to convict the pair after school officials passed it on to police.
Dylan, of Clydach, near Abergavenny, told his local newspaper: "I knew that people didn't believe me when I told them what was going on.
"I felt the only way to prove it was to catch them at it by filming them on their mobiles.
"I was pleased to capture them on film and glad it was used in court."
Prosecutor Jean Munton told Abergavenny Magistrates' Court: "Dylan told his mother that some of the drivers concerned him by using their mobile phones while on the five-mile run to school.
"He filmed the drivers using his Blackberry on two successive days and the footage was downloaded to a lap top and burned onto disc."
Dylan said that pupils were left scared on the school run to King Henry VIII Comprehensive, claiming that the drivers mounted kerbs and one had even pulled out in front of a lorry, frightening the children on board.
Magistrates praised Dylan's undercover work yesterday after viewing the two films.
Monmouthshire Passenger Transport Unit, who hire the G & H Taxis from Brynmawr for the service, also praised the pupil's quick thinking.
Dylan's mum Sadie, 38, said: "He knew he had to get the evidence and managed to do it."