"I wanted to be a bus driver when I was younger. Then I wanted to own a bus cafe. It's always been in the back of my mind, this idea of living in a bus."

Lyndzi Hargrave, 38, moved into her double-decker bus in January and now plans to tour round festivals, so people can access the library inside it.

She purchased the bus on eBay in August 2023 and said the overall cost of the project – which doubles as an off-grid home – was more than £50,000, including buying the bus and adding solar panels.

Ms Hargrave, who grew up in Anstey, Leicestershire, said the bus had now passed its MOT, meaning she could tour it round the country, offering a free library and book swap service.

She said she did not know where her desire to live on a bus came from, "but it's just always been there".

Ms Hargrave said: "I've never really wanted kids or marriage or that traditional kind of life. And then I just thought, right, you need to focus on something."

At the end of 2022, she said she gave up drinking alcohol for a year "to see what would happen".

"That was the year I ended up getting the bus and everything just aligned for that to happen.

"I don't think if I wasn't drinking and I wasn't on this kind of journey, this spiritual journey, that I would have had the right mindset to complete such a huge task.

"I definitely feel like the more you kind of pursue your best interests, the more doors open in that area."

When asked what her favourite thing about living in a double-decker bus is, Ms Hargrave said: "It's having my own space, because I've always shared. I've always had a housemate.

"The favourite part is definitely feeling like this is my space that I can decorate how I want and all the rest of it.

"I've rescued furniture from free sites and from Facebook Marketplace and upcycled it all myself.

"I didn't want it looking all posh and brand new because that's not the vibe I was going for.

"I live in a library now, so that's surely got to be the best thing ever."

Ms Hargrave had the bus parked while she converted it, but is now looking for a semi-permanent base that she can return to between tours.

She said living in the bus had "humbled" her and taken her "back to basics".

"Every resource I bring on and every bit of wastage I take off," Ms Hargrave said.

"So it's made me realise about plastic packaging and whether I really need this item and it's just really given me a wake-up call and changed my perspective."

Ms Hargrave will begin touring the bus this month, with her first festival on 21 June.

She said: "I want to bring literacy to areas that no longer have libraries and also go to festivals and provide a bit of a community space for some people to connect.

"That's the point of the library and the books, to give people a reason to come along and then they can connect with people in the local community and with me and all the work that I do."

Ms Hargrave, who worked in specialist education for 15 years, also runs a podcast talking about ADHD and autism which aims to provide an information service for well-being and mental health.

A black schoolgirl who was strip-searched by Metropolitan Police officers was told she "might be arrested" if she refused to comply, a misconduct panel has heard.

The girl, known as Child Q, was strip-searched at her school by officers in Hackney, east London, on 3 December 2020 after her teachers wrongly suspected her of carrying cannabis.

This involved the removal of the 15-year-old's clothing including underwear, her bending over and having to expose intimate parts of her body while she was menstruating, the panel has heard.

Trainee Det Con Kristina Linge, PC Victoria Wray and PC Rafal Szmydynski, who were all constables at the time, deny gross misconduct over their treatment of the girl.

'Frightened?'

On Thursday, Det Con Linge, who conducted the strip-search alongside PC Wray, told the misconduct panel in south-east London she informed Child Q she "might be arrested" when the girl asked what could happen if she refused to be searched – but claimed there had been "no threat of arrest".

Elliot Gold, for the Independent Office for Police Conduct, asked: "Will you accept you were giving Child Q the option of being strip-searched or arrested?"

"There were no options given like that," the officer replied.

"Do you accept that saying that to a 15-year-old might make them feel frightened?" Mr Gold said.

"Yes," Det Con Linge responded.

The panel heard that when asked previously what the officer had proposed to do if she found cannabis on Child Q, Det Con Linge had answered: "As per legislation, a juvenile found in possession must be arrested and brought to custody."

Det Con Linge previously said Child Q had consented to the search, but admitted under cross-examination by Mr Gold that this was not accurate.

Det Con Linge joined the Met Police in 2018 and was still in her probationary period when the search took place.

The officer confirmed she had completed equality training, including on unconscious bias and discriminatory stereotypes, and said she was aware of stereotypes relating to black people.

She told the hearing she did not "see the relevance" of the fact Child Q was being questioned by two white police officers.

Mr Gold asked whether she would accept that "a stereotype of black people is they may more likely be stopped and searched" and if she would accept that they are more likely to be "in receipt of use of force by police".

Det Con Linge replied "no" to both questions.

The 46-year-old agreed there was no adult present in the room where the search happened who could have offered the child advice, assisted her in communication with police or ensured her rights were respected.

Det Con Linge also denied she "did not recognise Child Q as a child" and was, in effect, "treating her as older than she was".

The hearing continues.