FORMER bus driver Keith Burbidge is turning heads after transforming his mobility scooter into a mini double-decker.

Keith, of Twynham Road, Southbourne, finally retired from his job last year but missed life on the buses so much he decided to make his own miniature version.

The pensioner spent just £40 on a second-hand electric buggy and took six months turning it into a working scale-model of a Yellow Bus.

Keith stretched the scooter so he could install two authentic Bournemouth Corporation bus seats which he salvaged from a skip 30 years ago.

He built the superstructure using metal tubing and corrugated plastic from old advertising boards which he painted bright yellow.

He installed more than 30 windows from Perspex sheets and hand-made the black and white destination blind on the front.

The 1960s-style bus has two side doors for Keith and wife Carol, a 71-year-old retired librarian, to easily climb in and out of the quirky mini bus.

Now the couple can regularly be seen trundling along the streets of Bournemouth in the one-of-a-kind motor, that is 6ft long and 4ft high.

The bus has a top speed of 5mph and a range of 20 miles before the battery runs out.

Keith, who has two grown-up children, said: "I bought a mobility scooter at an auction with a vague idea of what I wanted to do. It was only £40 as it wasn't working.

"I spent about a week tinkering with it and got it going again but they look so boring, I thought it would be fun to give it a redesign.

"I cut it in half to make it longer and used anything I could find to construct the bus - bits of old advertising board, metal tubing - so it didn't really cost me anything.

"I don't take it on the road as I'm not sure of the legalities so I stick to the pavements and cross the road at pedestrian crossings.

"Carol loves it, she drives it too. Although we can fit two in we usually have one of us driving and the other walking beside it.

"We've been using it to advertise a bus rally we're having so I've been spending a lot of time going along the promenade in Bournemouth."

Keith, who also worked as a potter, got his bus licence in 1986. He would drive the bus on school runs in the morning and late afternoon and do his pottery business in between.

He later worked part-time driving National Express coach routes but retired from that last autumn. However he cannot give it up completely and still does some voluntary coach driving for a local club.

Fiona Harwood, from Yellow Buses, said: "We're extremely flattered that Keith has created this little Yellow Bus.

"Several people have seen it around the town and mentioned it to us.

"It's absolutely superb and we'd love to invite him and his bus to the depot to see one of our new state-of-the-art buses."