A hero bus driver saved an unconscious teenager by abandoning his route and rushing her to hospital.

Stagecoach driver Steve Ponting did not hesitate when Leigh-Anne Mundey, 16, suddenly collapsed as she paid her fare.

Steve turned to dozens of shocked passengers and said: "Does anybody mind if I get her to A&E?"

Leigh-Anne's father Nick Monaghan said: "He was brilliant and I'll buy him a beer when I see him."

Now Leigh-Anne and Steve have been reunited at Worthing's seafront bus depot thanks to The Argus.

She turned to Steve and said: "Thank you so much", before giving him a hug.

The college student boarded the bus in east Worthing, near the Smugglers Return pub in Ham Road, bound for the town centre, when she suddenly collapsed.

Steve, 35, and two passengers sitting nearby grabbed her as she fell.

He tried to flag down a passing ambulance, but on failing to stop it he drove straight to Worthing Hospital's casualty department.

After helping Leigh-Anne into hospital he got back on the bus to a round of applause from about 30 passengers.

Steve, of Pavilion Road, Worthing, who has been a Stagecoach driver for just nine weeks, said: "As she got onto the bus I noticed she was as white as a ghost. Something wasn't right and suddenly she went.

"I grabbed her and some of the passengers got up and gave me a hand.

"There was an ambulance opposite and I tried to flag it down, but when that failed I just put the bus out of service and flew down to the hospital.

"The passengers were brilliant. They were mostly pensioners and not one of them complained. It was just a case of getting her to the hospital as quickly as possible."

Steve, who was driving a single-decker Pulse bus, parked outside the hospital entrance in Lyndhurst Road, and as two passengers helped Leigh-Anne into A&E he rushed ahead to warn medics.

He said: "I left one of the passengers in charge of the bus. All my cash was on board and no-one touched anything. Everybody applauded when I got back on."

Leigh-Anne said: "I felt a bit funny before I got on the bus, and as soon as I boarded I just went. I remember people hugging me and making sure I was all right. The driver was amazing. I am going to get him a thank you card.

"There were so many people on the bus who cared, especially the driver and two women, one of whom waited with me at the hospital."

Dad Nick, a 45-year-old truck driver, of Centrecourt Road, Worthing, said: "She was on her way to work at her job at Wilkinsons in the Guildbourne Centre.

"She got on the bus to pay and just blacked out. The driver jumped out of his seat, made her comfortable, and took her straight to the hospital.

"I think the driver is marvellous. There aren't many people like that left. Most people probably wouldn't care. It was very, very good of him."

Nick said Leigh-Anne, who is studying at Worthing College in Bolsover Road, Durrington, Worthing, was a fit and healthy girl.

The doctor said she was suffering from low blood pressure at the time of her collapse.

Nick said: "When A&E phoned me they said 'don't worry, another passenger got off the bus and is waiting with her'. It's fantastic isn't it?"

Colin Stratford, operations manager for Stagecoach in Worthing, praised Steve for his actions on Saturday.

He said: "As a company we applaud our drivers when they make decisions like that. The health and safety of our passengers always comes first."

Were you on the bus at the time? Or have you ever been a have-a-go hero? Tell us your stories below.