OC Transpo has apologized after a driver kicked 30 students off the 176 bus in Barrhaven yesterday.

The transit agency's general manager John Manconi said the driver forced the Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School students to leave the bus after several pranks where the bus bell was pulled but no one exited the bus.

Manconi said this was not proper procedure, and that the driver should have contacted the control centre and awaited the assistance of a supervisor or a special constable.

Manconi said OC Transpo management has met with the driver and said "appropriate actions have been taken."

"OC Transpo would like to apologize to the 30 students and their parents. I have contacted Ms. Patsy Agard, Principal of Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School, to discuss the incident and convey our apology," said Manconi.

"Ms. Agard offered her assistance should this situation repeat itself in the future. The students should not have been asked to disembark the bus," said Manconi.