A FORMER soldier has complained after he saw an Oxford bus driver using his mobile phone at the wheel.

Hugh McManners, 53, spotted a Stagecoach driver texting as he drove through the junction of Banbury Road and Marston Ferry Road towards Summertown.

Mr McManners, of North Oxford, said: "The driver at the Marston Ferry Road lights was heading north towards Summertown, entering data on his mobile phone, and missed the change of the lights.

"As he drove off across the junction, he continued to enter data either a phone number or a text message.

"I looked up as I walked across, and noticed that the driver was not watching where he was going. He must have been texting, or entering data in his mobile phone."

Mr McManners, a former commando who has worked as a defence correspondent for national newspapers, took down the bus's registration number on March 22 and then tried to track down the company which owned it. When he first approached Stagecoach, it told him it probably belonged to another company based in Witney. But with the help of the county council he was able to establish that the bus was Stagecoach's number 59 working out of Banbury.

Following Mr McManners' complaint, the company arranged a disciplinary hearing. The result has not been made public.

Before the hearing, Chris Child, a spokesman for Stagecoach in Oxford, said: "We have a strict policy where the use of a mobile phone while driving is forbidden.

"We are carrying out a full investigation in accordance with our disciplinary procedure. Any proven breach of the rules will result in serious disciplinary actions, including dismissal for gross misconduct."