A MAN spent weeks posing as a bus driver before stealing a Chelmsford bus and driving it for two miles.

Joshua Cooper, 20, of Mersea Road, Colchester, was jailed for six months after disguising himself as a First Bus driver, taking a Bluebird bus from Chelmsford bus station and driving it to a depot in Westway, just outside the city centre.

When he arrived at the depot on May 14 – wearing a uniform he had obtained from a friend who works at the company – he was questioned and found not to be a member of staff.

When jailing Cooper, who was arrested after failing to turn up at an earlier sentencing hearing, Roger Prince, chairman of the bench, said: “These offences, taking a vehicle – a bus as it was – without consent, was a great danger to the public.

“It was a large vehicle. People could have been badly hurt.

“You planned the job over a number of weeks and dressed as an employee of the company and breached a community order.”

Cooper appeared for sentencing in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last week.

He had earlier admitted three charges of taking a vehicle without consent, driving without insurance and driving with no licence.

Cooper was sentenced to four months in jail for taking the bus, plus two months consecutive for a previous offence of taking a Torano car.

He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

No separate penalty was imposed for driving uninsured and without a licence.

Denise Holland, prosecutuing, told the court Cooper was seen to drive into the Westway depot – without passengers – and when questioned, it became clear he was not an employee.

Miss Holland added: “Police were called and he told them he drove the bus at 11.30pm for about two to three miles – the road was quiet – and admitted it was a stupid thing to have done.

“He said it was the culmination of a downward spiral.”

Laura Glover, mitigating, said: “He wants to apologise. There were no passengers on the bus and he returned the bus to a depot.”

A First Bus spokesman said an internal investigation has been launched to find out how Cooper got into the site.

He added: “The safety and security of our staff and customers is our number one priority.”