A STAGECOACH bus driver has been suspended from duty pending investigations into an allegation that he "drove like a lunatic."

The man, who has not been named by the company, is alleged to have jumped a red light and cornered a roundabout at such a speed that it caused a one-year-old to topple from his pushchair and fall to the floor of the bus.

The child's mother, 21-year-old Samantha Nichols from West Swindon, was so distraught following the incident that she reported the driver to both Stagecoach and Swindon police.

"I think what happened was disgusting," she said.

Mrs Nichols and her son Liam boarded the single-decker No 8 service from Toothill to Swindon bus station on a shopping trip to town at just after 9am last Friday.

"It was full of people and as we approached Mannington round-about the driver jumped the lights as they were on red, which made Liam tip over and the chair fall on top of him," she said.

"He smashed his head on a metal pole the one which has a buzzer on and he was screaming for ages. We just thought the driver would have stopped.

"Two blokes and me pushed Liam back up and I just took hold of him.

"Everybody was looking at me and people said 'don't worry, he was driving like a lunatic'."

Mrs Nichols reported the incident to the Stagecoach inquiry office straight away.

She also reported what happened to the inquiry desk at Swindon Central police station.

"The people at Stagecoach just said take Liam to hospital and see what his injuries are, then tell them and they would deal with it," Mrs Nichols said.

"I filled in a form at the police station and they said they would look into it. I took Liam to Great Western Hospital and they looked at him and said he was all right. He had a really long cut on the side of his head, and a big red mark on his face.

"I'm disgusted that this bus driver didn't even get out of his seat to see if Liam was OK. He carried on driving as if he wasn't bothered.

"This kind of thing has happened loads of times on that bus and people are sick and tired of it."

Stagecoach Operations Director Bob Dorr said: "We have received a call from Mrs Nichols and we are making an investigation. During the investigation the driver is suspended from duty.

"We certainly take allegations of improper driving most seriously.

"Our priority is always the safety and comfort of our passengers and all of our drivers are expected to meet these high standards.

"We always make full investig-ations and we always respond to the complainant with an explan-ation and either an apology or offer of compensation, where appropriate."

A police spokeswoman said they were looking into the matter.

Users of the No 8 Stagecoach service said they had experienced journeys which seemed to be to fast.

Ben Blakey, 20, of Warneford Close, Toothill, said: "It depends on which driver it is. Normally they're all right but there is one driver who goes too fast.

He said that he had been on a bus as it was speeding along Penzance Drive and he claimed "one driver ran the red lights down by the tented market in the town centre."