My journey home today on the No 7 bus was marred by the unpleasant attitude shown by other bus users to an elderly passenger.

The elderly lady was complaining to the driver about something when another woman in her 30s or 40s got on with a male friend.

After waiting a couple of minutes, they both began abusing the passenger: "Get off the f***ing bus, get off".

The bus driver made no attempt to intervene and, in fact, continued to drown out the elderly passenger's voice at the same time.

In all, three people were shouting at her at once. She then got off the bus.

The woman defended herself against other passengers' subsequent criticisms of her language and attitude by saying she "didn't want to wait here for half an hour and she'd "been up since 6am".

Several people said they were shocked at the lack of respect for an elderly person.

The woman responded: "So I should respect her just because she's old?"

My answer would be: "Yes". I don't know what the elderly passenger was discussing with the bus driver but this woman had no right to burst in on her, or abuse and disrespect her.

Elderly people deserve as much respect as any other human being, and more, particularly in view of their physical frailty - this lady had great difficulty moving around and used a stick.

-Rebecca Taylor (aged 25), Hove