A DRIVER who “used his knees to steer” a private hire vehicle while carrying two primary school pupils has lost his licence.

He was not watching the road for most of the journey because he was too busy trying to sort out his e-cigarette, the Bolton’s licensing committee heard.

A primary school staff member who was with the two pupils told the council they were frightened by his poor driving, which led councillors to revoke his licence.

She said the vehicle was constantly veering onto the other side of the road and he had to slam the brakes on at roundabouts.

The driver denied driving with his knees and claimed he did not remember the customers, but councillors were told he had an accident in his vehicle which was his fault two months after the complaint was made.

He joins several other private hire drivers who have had their licences revoked at hearings held by councillors in the past few months following complaints, convictions and other concerns.

These hearings are held behind closed doors, which is why the drivers are not named, but some details appear on the council’s website after a decision is made.

Another driver, who had not paid his road tax, was given more than 500 jobs by his operator despite having his vehicle suspended months previously.

He was issued a vehicle suspension notice after failing to attend a mid-year test in October 2017, but by the following February he completed 413 jobs that had been allocated to him.

His private hire vehicle licence was revoked because he had breached the conditions of his licences.

The committee also said he “clearly has a disregard for licensing regimes”.

At the same meeting in December, a driver was refused a private hire vehicle licence because the committee was concerned about the applicant’s speeding record.

He had three speeding convictions resulting in nine penalty points all in the space of 13 months.

At another meeting on January 8, a licence was revoked after a driver was convicted for picking up customers illegally.

He was plying for hire without a hackney carriage proprietor’s licence in a vehicle which was uninsured against third party risks.

Two unbooked passengers got into his vehicle and were charged £15, but when he was stopped by the police, he told them that the passengers were friends.

His licence was revoked because of the nature of his conviction which he failed to declare the offence to the council.