A COUNTY toddler needed hospital treatment after being involved in two road accidents on public buses within a week.

North Berwick mum Shannon Williamson, of Phillimore Square, said her three-year-old daughter Orlaith was left needing stitches after the second incident.

“She’s all right now, still a bit shaken up, but her eye seems to be healing – I hope it doesn’t scar,” said Miss Williamson.

“Orlaith is petrified in the morning, she cries when I tell her to get her jacket on to go for the bus.

“She won’t sit on the seat, she has to be cuddled into me. Every time the bus slows down she clings on to me and I need to reassure her. I hope she gets over it, but I’m grabbing her all the time and I’m worried sick.”

The nursery supervisor said the first incident occurred taking Orlaith to nursery on October 16, on the East Coast Buses service 104 – Haddington to Edinburgh – after the driver had a disagreement with a passenger.

Miss Williamson, 23, said: “As the driver pulled away from the bus stop he did not pay full attention to the road or its surroundings, as he was mumbling under his breath towards the man who had just got off the bus; this then caused the bus to crash into the cars in front.

“There were many passengers on the bus who screamed, and my daughter went flying off her seat, causing her to smack her face on the seat in front and bursting her lip.”

The second incident occurred on October 22, on the East Coast Buses service 140 – Musselburgh to Penicuik – as Miss Williamson took Orlaith on a day trip.

She said the driver “approached the roundabout far too fast, causing her to come sliding off her seat, landing headfirst on the floor of the bus”.

The toddler’s injury prompted Miss Williamson to take her to hospital.

“My daughter was taken to the Sick Kids to be checked over for concussion, she required stitches,” she said.

Miss Williamson reported both incidents to East Coast Buses but feels she has not been taken seriously.

She told the Courier: “The fact they have been sent the photographs and still aren’t taking this matter seriously or treating it with urgency is beyond a joke.

“We have to get a bus every day and I am now faced with a very distressed little girl whom I have to convince every morning to get onto a bus.”

A spokeswoman for East Coast Buses said: “We are aware of this customer’s concerns and are in touch with the family directly.”