A TEENAGER who set fire to his school bus packed with fellow pupils walked free from court yesterday.

The 14-year-old held a lighter to a fluorescent light which caused molten plastic to drip onto the upper seats of the Go Ahead Northern double-decker.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the £10,000 of damage was done when the blaze spread, ruining all the seats and smashing all the windows.

Julie Clemitson, prosecuting, had told the court how the bus was taking about 20 pupils from their school back to Consett on November 27 last year.

The driver was forced to pull over and evacuate the pupils, aged between 12 and 15, who had been sitting downstairs, unaware that the top of the bus was ablaze.

Miss Clemitson told the court: "It appeared to the driver that something was amiss, but he could not see what it was.

"He became concerned when pupils were going up and down the stairs and became more suspicious when the defendant and some others got off very quickly.

"Rather than behave in the manner which they normally did, which was fairly cheeky, he was surprised to see them watching the bus disappear down the road."

The court heard that the driver soon spotted the smoke through his periscope and immediately brought the bus to a halt.

The youth initially denied being on the bus but later pleaded guilty to damaging property and being reckless to whether life was endangered.

Judge Beatrice Bolton placed him under a two-year supervision order.