A TAXI driver has slammed a bus company after an elderly woman was left stranded when she was dropped off seven miles from her stop.

The woman, in her 80s, had caught the number 3 bus, run by First, from Dovercourt High Street.

Having only lived in the area for three weeks, she asked the driver to stop when he got to Dovercourt Tollgate near the Trafalgar pub on Main Road, just a mile up the road. But seven miles later the driver dropped her off outside the Maybush pub in Great Oakley.

Taxi driver Tony Colbourne was called by a member of the public to pick her up.

A First spokesman said: "We are investigating the incident and once identified, we will interview the driver to ascertain what happened."