Bus Driver Beaten And Hurled From His Cab Before Hijacker Steals Bus And Plows The Wrong Way Down A Telford High Street

A Sikh bus driver was punched, dragged by his beard and thrown from his vehicle on a Friday evening before a man in his 20s allegedly stole the service and sent it careering the wrong way through Madeley, smashing into cars and bringing a Shropshire town to a halt.

Shocking footage circulating online appears to show the confrontation at the cab of a red Travel Telford route 100 bus on Court Street shortly after 6.35 pm. The driver, wearing a turban, can be seen struggling as a man in a beige fleece leans into the cab. Witnesses in the clip shout that the driver is bleeding as the struggle spills onto the pavement.

West Mercia Police say the driver was ejected during the assault. The stolen double-decker-sized single-decker was then driven along Park Way towards the High Street on the wrong side of the road, colliding with several vehicles before coming to rest near The Miners Arms. Roads including Kemberton Road were sealed off for hours. They reopened around 9.40 pm.

A man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of robbery and dangerous driving. He remains in custody. The driver was treated by paramedics for minor injuries. Police say no one else is believed to have been hurt — a detail that will strike many who watched the footage as little short of a miracle.

Detective Sergeant Taigh Lannie said: “We understand this will have been an alarming incident for those in the area this evening. I’d like to reassure the community that officers responded quickly and a man has been arrested and remains in police custody.”Officers are now hunting dashcam, doorbell and CCTV footage from Court Street, Park Way and the High Street around 6.37 pm. Anyone with information is asked to email TelfordCID@westmercia.police.uk quoting incident 379i of 18 September 2026.

For a few chaotic minutes, an ordinary Friday service to Sutton Hill became a weapon on a busy high street. The driver was doing his job. The town was going about its evening. Then a man boarded, the cab door became a battleground, and a public bus became a battering ram.

Police have not named the suspect or released any further personal details. That has not stopped the videos spreading, nor the fury that follows any attack on a lone worker in a high-vis seat.

A man is in custody. The driver is said to have escaped with relatively minor injuries. Madeley is left with crumpled bodywork, a closed road and a question that tabloid Britain never tires of asking after nights like this: how does a bus get stolen in the first place?