Vic boy locked inside bus for five hours

A student from a Melbourne special needs school was locked inside a bus for more than five hours after the driver forgot to check it was empty.

The boy fell asleep on his way to school on Tuesday and the driver returned to the depot without checking the bus, leaving the child inside until the afternoon pick-up.

"We immediately investigated this isolated incident and have already strengthened our processes with the bus provider to ensure this cannot happen again," Bulleen Heights School principal Susan Merjan said in a statement on Thursday.

It is believed Crown Coaches sacked the driver and a supervisor.