A BUS company has been ordered to cut its passenger services after two back wheels fell off one of its vehicles in a busy street.

A BUS company has been ordered to cut its passenger services after two back wheels fell off one of its vehicles in a busy street.

And Clydebank-based Avondale Coaches was told it came close to having its operator's licence revoked following the incident.

Scotland's Transport Commissioner Joan Aitken said it was "with hesitation" that she allowed the company to remain operating.

But she told it to reduce its vehicle fleet from 22 buses to 18.

A public inquiry was told the wheels had rolled off the bus as it pulled up at a stop at Chalmers Street in Clydebank Town Centre.

A company spokesman had initially denied that the wheels, from the left rear twin axle, had fallen off, despite photographs taken by a witness on a mobile phone.

But eye witnesses said they saw the bus - effectively on three wheels - travel a short distance up the road before finally stopping.

The driver, they said, seemed to be unaware of the drama.

At the inquiry Avondale's transport manager David Gold admitted the incident and said the inner wheel had fractured.

He said he did not know the company had to report the incident to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).

In her written judgment Ms Aitken said: "It must have been very disquieting for passengers to see wheels coming off a local service bus."

She said that, two years ago, she had warned Avondale it was "supping at the last chance saloon".

The company has been called before the Commissioner four times since 2001 to answer breaches of its operating licence."

She also refused an application by the company to increase its fleet from 22 to 26 buses.