Taxi driver banned from taking children to school because he kissed his own daughters

Tony Kemp, from Pickering, North Yorkshire, was suspended from making the school run for six days after the council were told he was hugging the girls

Devastated: Taxi driver Tony Kemp has said the ordeal was a "living nightmare"

A taxi driver was banned from taking children to school after he was seen kissing two young girls - who were his own children.

Tony Kemp was suspended from making the school run for six days after the council were told he was hugging the girls.

But when bosses realised the error he was reinstated.

The 60-year-old has described the ordeal as a "living nightmare".

He was initially called by North Yorkshire County Council to be told he was suspended from the school run with immediate effect.

Tony was told an allegation had been made against him but he could be given no more details.

SWNS

Banned: Tony Kemp was spotted outside a school kissing his own daughters

To his horror, a source in the taxi trade told him it was known in the Pickering and Malton areas of North Yorkshire, that a driver had been suspended after someone had reported seeing him kissing and cuddling two girls outside Pickering Junior School.

Tony, who runs Crystal Cars in Pickering, said: "That's when the penny dropped.

"I take children to the school from villages up on the Moors but it wasn't them I was hugging and kissing, it was my own daughters, who are aged nine and 11 and are taken to the school each day by their mother from their home in Malton. "

We have unfortunately separated and I live in Kirkbymoorside, but they always look out for me and run up for a hug and a kiss when they see me arrive."

He said he believed a public-spirited person had seen this, misinterpreted what was happening and contacted the authorities to raise their concerns.

PA

Picturesque: Tony works in the North Yorkshire town of Pickering

Tony said he could not understand why he wasn't informed what had been alleged and interviewed as a matter of urgency, which would have allowed him to explain what had happened.

He said: "The past six days have been the worst of my life since my father died 35 years ago.

"I'm personally devastated at the allegation aimed at me.

"I've also lost hundreds of pounds worth of business but even worse than that is that my good reputation, which I have built up over the past twelve years, has been shattered.

"I'm worried about reprisals from people who think I go round kissing schoolchildren."

A North Yorkshire council spokeswoman said: "We have followed the Child Protection Procedures.

"This matter has now been investigated and found to be false."