Gillian Hainsworth encountered unexpected trouble when she took a party of pupils on a school trip and found herself surrounded by Yorkshire police, who accused the teacher of stealing the minibus.

Mrs Hainsworth drove to a concert venue and found herself suddenly boxed in by three police vans. An officer then tapped on her driver's window and ordered her to explain why she was driving a stolen vehicle.  Mrs Hainsworth, 51, was questioned for 15 minutes before the officers realised they had made a mistake.

The hired minibus had previously been reported stolen and was still listed as such on the police database.

Eventually the police officers saw the funny side of the confusion and put handcuffs on the teacher so that her pupils could take photos, which they posted on Facebook.

Mrs Hainsworth, a music teacher at Tadcaster Grammar School in North Yorkhire, said: "When they said the word 'stolen' I couldn't help but laugh because I knew I had not stolen the minibus. And it was so obvious that we were carrying a load of schoolchildren on the bus - what an odd way to use a stolen vehicle."