A Thamesway bus driver has been praised for taking care of a lost 12-year-old girl and bringing her home safe and sound.

Nikki Roberts got on the bus at Basildon bus station thinking it was going to her Laindon bus stop.

But she fell asleep on the bus and woke up in Romford - a town she has never been to on her own before.

Meanwhile her mum and dad were going through every parents' nightmare, wondering where their daughter had got to. Concerned for her safety, they reported her missing to police.

By now Nikki realised she had got on the wrong bus and was close to tears.

She ran up to the driver, David Sugarman, and asked him to let her off the bus, but he could see she was distressed and said he would drop her off home when he had finished his route.

It was now getting late and dark and when they arrived at Walthamstow depot Mr Sugarman offered to buy Nikki a bag of chips and bought her a bar of chocolate to eat on the journey home.

Meanwhile Nikki's father had gone to Basildon bus station and the engineers were ringing round all the depots to ask if Nikki had been seen.

Nikki was finally dropped off at the end of her road at about 9pm. The caring driver waited and watched her go inside to make sure she made it right to her door safely.

Mother Maria Roberts, 35, of Cathedral Drive, Laindon, said: "I will never moan about the bus service again as long as I live.

"He was brilliant with her.

"Anything could have happened to her if he had let her off the bus.

"You hear so many horror stories.

"Even the night engineers were marvellous when my husband went down, by phoning around and helping calm him down.

"We just can't thank them all enough."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.