WITH her blackened eyes and bruises you might think this grandmother of five had been mugged – but all she did was get on a bus.

The inset photograph shows 77-year-old Margaret Buss from Corfe Mullen after an incident in which she claims she was sent “flying” on a Wilts and Dorset bus after the driver set off before she’d had a chance to sit down.

She says she hit her face against a seat and landed on her back in the aisle.

“I went down with such a crunch I thought I’d broken something,” she told the Daily Echo Paramedics were called and she was taken to her doctor. She then developed pain in her back, neck and shoulder, and had to move in with her daughter for six weeks.

The incident happened on a number 3 bus at Hillview Post Office, Corfe Mullen, on November 11 last year.

Months later Mrs Buss is still in pain and her life has been transformed. From being a confident, sprightly lady who rode buses almost daily, she is now too scared to use them and relies on her daughter for transport.

“It’s changed my life quite a lot – I don’t want to go out any more,” she added. “It really did shake me up and I’ve lost a lot of my confidence.”

Mrs Buss, who is now paying for months of chiropractic treatment, said Wilts and Dorset refused to accept liability because the driver had reported she was unsteady on her feet.

Her daughter, Jayne Wright, insists her mother was not unsteady but added: “If the driver thought she was, why didn’t he wait for her to sit down?

“They can’t have it both ways.”

Chris Harris, public relations manager for Wilts and Dorset, said the matter was ongoing and in the hands of the company’s claims handlers, who were dealing with solicitors appointed by Mrs Buss’s family.

He added: “We expect our drivers to treat all customers with courtesy and consideration, and the safety and comfort of passengers is the top consideration at all times.”