Garage owner pleads guilty to improper school bus inspections

The owner of a St. John's garage has been fined $7,200 for issuing faulty school bus inspection certificates.

In provincial court on Tuesday, Janet Jones was set to go to trial, but pleaded guilty to six counts of issuingschool bus inspections without a proper inspection instead.Another 52 charges were dropped.

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Defence lawyer BobSimmondssaid a deal was reached after the prosecution had trouble with its only witness the man whose signature was on all the inspection certificates.

"It's been an eye-opener and nothing short," Jones told the judge. "And your honour, it will never happen again."

Jonesoriginally pleaded not guiltyin a court appearance earlier this year and a trial date was set.

She is the operator of J.J. Services, which did bus inspections forKellowayInvestments, owned by Jones's brother, JimKelloway.

They ran into trouble when the English School District did a blitz of surprise inspections in January 2017. Problems were found with 58 buses that had been inspected a month earlier by J.J. Services.

Each inspection had the same signature Gerald Butt, the head mechanic at the shop despite the fact he was out of town when the inspections supposedly happened. As theowner of the company, Jones was held responsible.

AsSimmondspointed out in court, there was no way to prove the defects didn't happen in the month between the inspections being signed and the blitz by the school district.

Kellowayalso faced58 charges, but saw them dropped in January 2018.

The English School District of Newfoundland and Labrador cancelled its contract with the bus company in early 2017 after inspectors found issues with brakes and emergency doors.

However, in the six charges Jones pleaded guilty to, only one bus was ordered to be taken off the road. The other five hadminor defects but did not pose a significant safety risk to children.

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