SMALL aboard!

A former bus driver who built his own miniature double decker has taken the vehicle to the Yellow Bus depot in Bournemouth.

Keith Burbidge visited the Yeomans Way site and parked up next to an open-topper and one of the company’s brand new buses.

The model-maker made his little Yellow Bus from a mobility scooter and based it on a 1950s Leyland double decker.

Inside are two genuine bus seats salvaged from a skip 30 years ago.

Keith and his wife Carol often travel around in it together picking up litter close to their home in Twynham Road, Southbourne.

Bosses at Yellow Buses decided to invite Keith to the depot to size up the real vehicles that inspired his creation after the story went around the country.

But staff spent more time looking at his model bus, which is just six feet long and four feet tall.

Keith, 75, said: “It was amazing to drive among the big buses, although when one was following me around the depot I was a little nervous because I don’t have any brake lights.

“I get a lot of people waving at me and it’s all a bit of a surprise as I only did it for a bit of fun.”

Fiona Harwood from Yellow Buses, who invited Keith along, said: “When we saw photos of Keith’s bus we had to invite him to the depot with his bus.

“It was very amusing to see it next to our buses and driving around them with Keith inside.

“We made him up some signage for the sides and wish him luck with whatever he does next.”

Keith's minibus has caught the public's imagination, appearing in national publications around the UK.

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

The bus has a top speed of five miles per hour and a range of 20 miles before the battery runs out.

Keith got his bus licence in 1986. He would drive the vehicles on school runs in the morning and late afternoon and later worked part-time driving National Express coach routes.

He finally retired last autumn, although still does some voluntary driving for a local club.