An Oxfordshire sixth former has been suspended after a school bus driver was attacked, writes David Horne.

Long-serving driver Vincent Andrew, 61, was punched several times and had to have medical treatment after he told the 18-year-old pupil to stop swearing on his bus.

The school confirmed that the teenager had been suspended for the rest of the term, which ends tomorrow.

Police have been called in to investigate an allegation of assault. Mr Andrew, who lives at Aston, near Bampton, said he was on his normal after-school run taking children home.

He was waiting in the school car park when about 40 pupils, most of them sixth formers, began to board the single-decker coach.

"I was in the driver's seat reading my Oxford Mail. But when this kid boarded the coach he started giving a load of verbal abuse. I said I wouldn't tolerate it and told him to get off," he said.

"I was then hit in the face several times and pulled to the floor. I was bashed and bruised round the head and bleeding from the lip." Mr Andrew said some of the pupils, including the teenager, had been complaining about school bus pick-up points.

He was escorted by other pupils to the school first aid room and a call was put out to his employer, Jeffs Coaches at Witney, to send another driver.

Mr Andrew, who has been a bus and coach driver for 42 years, added: "We are providing a public service. We are not there to be assaulted. This behaviour was totally unacceptable." The school's headteacher said: "There was an incident that has been investigated by the school and the police. A pupil has been suspended."

Pc Bill Oddy, schools liaison officer, said: "We are liaising with the school and looking into the allegations of assault."

Story date: Friday 17 December

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