A BUS driver has won a “Hero of the Year” award for the actions that delayed his passengers’ journey but may have prevented an accident.

Malton-based Jon Peckitt was driving a Coastliner service from York to Leeds in the middle of the night when he spotted a broken-down vehicle.

So he pulled up, checked that everyone in the car was all right and helped move it out of the way of other traffic before getting back into his bus and resuming its journey.

One of the passengers whose journey was delayed was so impressed by Mr Peckitt’s actions he wrote to the company to praise him.

That led to Mr Peckitt being nominated for his employers’ Transdev’s annual awards and his Malton colleagues choosing him as their “Hero of the Year”.

Alex Hornby, chief executive officer of Transdev in Yorkshire and Lancashire, said: “The phrase ‘going the extra mile’ sums up Jon’s approach, which impressed his colleagues at our Malton depot and earned him their nomination for this award.”

Mr Peckitt was joined on the platform at the Amazing Award ceremony by York-based Dale French, who drives the Cityzap express service between York and Leeds.

Mr French was declared the company’s Driver of the Year award.

He had previously taken second place in the Top National Bus Driver of the Year category of the 2017 UK Bus Awards.

More than 130 nominees from six Transdev depots including York, Malton and Harrogate, and their partners attended the awards evening which was held at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.