A mother and her two young daughters claim they were “centimetres” from injury when a bus driver sped towards them as they crossed the road last Wednesday.

Katie Columbus was crossing Aldenham Road in Radlett, with her husband Mark, two-year-old Kaia-Rose, seven-month-old Maya and her two cousins at around 1.20pm.

But she claims the driver of a passing 602 bus revved the engine and swung past them as they nearly finished crossing, instead of waiting for them to reach the pavement.

The 32-year-old, who was pushing Maya in the pram, says she was left “shaken up” after the incident.

She said: “It was terrifying and I am so angry at the bus driver for putting us in such a dangerous position.

“We ran off the crossing, but if we hadn’t, it gives me chills to think about what would have happened to the kids.

“My cousin was holding Kaia-Rose on her shoulder and so the bus could have easily hit her head.” 

Mrs Columbus, who lives in Station Road, Radlett, says onlookers looked visibly shocked after seeing what happened.

She quickly jotted down the registration number and lodged a formal complaint with Uno buses, but is yet to hear a response.

“I don’t know why he did it, I wish I could say I think it was unintentional, but I really don’t think that’s the case.

“You would expect a bus driver to have a sense of responsibility when they see kids crossing, but whatever his motivation for speeding up when he saw us, it is just outrageous.”

Michael Finn, general manager for Uno buses, said: “Any complaint of this nature is taken very seriously. Fortunately, we get very few complaints like this.

“Our drivers usually drive at a high standard but it appears this one has fallen short of that.

“We need to investigate and get the drivers version of events, and we will be making contact with the complainant to find out what happened.

“We are very sorry for what happened.”