A FORMER bus driver cleared of sexually assaulting a teenage passenger spoke today of his relief and happiness and added: "Justice has been done."

Father of three Mohammed Akbar, 39, said the pressure of having court proceedings hanging over him for almost a year had been "terrible" and had made him depressed.

The stress had led to the loss of the job he loved.

Akbar was speaking with the help of an interpretor after he was found not guilty of indecent assault last July by a Burnley Crown Court jury after a three-day trial.

The defendant, of Elm Street, Burnley, who has no criminal convictions, had denied the allegation throughout. He was discharged from the dock by Judge Raymond Bennett. Akbar, who is 6ft2in and described by his father- in- law as a "gentle giant," said he had been happy in his job with Rossendale Transport and always smiled at passengers and greeted them as they got on board his vehicle.

The defendant, who carried a lot of schoolchildren on his route in Haslingden, gave up his position after the 17-year-old complainant made the allegation against him. He is now working in a shop in Manchester.

Akbar said he believed the teenager may have brought the charge against him because he had asked to see her bus ticket and because he had offered her £5 for her mobile phone.

He said she was a trouble maker and part of a gang of teenagers who had made his life hell, picking on him and mimicking him because he did not speak English.

Akbar's father-in-law Abdul Sattar spoke of how the defendant's family was still trying to recover from the shock of the allegation being made against him.

He said: "We know him and we know he's a gentle giant. He is very good with children and we have never seen him behave in the way which was alleged."

Mr Sattar added Akbar's family were nice and respectable people and relations in Pakistan had been praying for him throughout his ordeal. He went on: " He enjoyed his job and was very fit for it."

The jury had heard claims the defendant stroked the girl's breast and then her private parts after she got on his bus with her friend on Manchester Road, Haslingden.

He was said to have grabbed the teenager's hand on a previous journey and to have told her she was nice. The prosecution had alleged Akbar had flirted with the girl and been sexually attracted to her.

Giving evidence, the defendant, who has lived in this country for about 14 years and had previously worked for a London bus company, said he had not done anything like the girl alleged.

Questioned by his barrister Vincent Dean, Akbar told the court he had never done anything to upset the alleged victim. He said the allegation was the first time he had had any sort of problem with girls while working as a bus driver.