ALMOST 80 employees have been caught committing driving offences while in county council vehicles.

Figures released under a Freedom of Information request show 78 Essex County Council employees have been handed penalty points in the last three years.

Essex County Council did not pay any of the fines and none of the drivers received a ban.

It also answered that it employs 86 minibus drivers, mainly for adult social care needs, and of these four have penalty points on their licence.

The county council confirmed that the bus driver with the highest amount of points has three on their licence.