A BUS driver who sexually assaulted a lone female passenger at the end of her journey has avoided a jail sentence.

Robert Wallace groped the woman against her will while his bus was parked in Smithhills Street, Paisley.

The 48-year-old pervert struck after all of the other passengers had disembarked and his victim was trying to leave.

The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was a passenger on Wallace’s bus on Saturday, January 28, this year when he reached the end of his route.

She had boarded the vehicle – a number 21 service, operated by McGill’s, that was operating between Govan and Paisley – in Renfrew.

As she tried to leave, Wallace told her he thought her jumper was nice and asked if she was “going out with the girls.”

When the victim said she just wanted to go home because she’d had a long day, Wallace ran his finger from her breasts down to her stomach, pulled at her shirt, pushed his finger under her shirt and hugged her.

He was still sitting in the cab of his bus when he sexually assaulted the 33-year-old woman, who was left alarmed by his actions.

Wallace agreed a deal with prosecutors which saw him plead guilty in exchange for claims he had also tried to undress the woman and kissed her on the neck and lips deleted from the charge.

He pleaded guilty to breaking Section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 by touching the woman against her will while “on board a public services bus, then stationary.”

Sentence had been deferred for background reports and Wallace, of Jean Armour Drive, Clydebank, returned to the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last week to be sentenced.

Sheriff Seith Ireland could have caged him for 12 months for the offence.

However, after hearing that Wallace had lost his job with McGill’s as a result of the case, he spared him prison, placing him on a Community Payback Order (CPO) and the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next three years.

The CPO will see him supervised by social workers for three years and complete 190 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.

This was reduced from 220 hours as he had admitted his guilt.

Sheriff Ireland told Wallace: “This is a serious matter which was carried out in the course of your employment.

“Your actions must have been extremely distressing for your victim.

“I impose a Community Payback Order of three years, which is the maximum I can impose, and this is as a direct alternative to custody.

“You will also be subject to notification requirements, colloquially known as the Sex Offenders’ Register, for the length of the Order.”