A passenger has spoken of the moment an object - feared to be a bullet - smashed through a bus window perilously close to where a small child was sitting.

Chris Marshall was travelling on the 89 service along Sheals Crescent towards Maidstone at around 2pm yesterday when the incident happened.

She said: "We were approaching the bend on Sheals Crescent when there was an ear shattering bang. I knew it wasn't a tyre.

"The window two seats in front of me on the left hand side shattered and was pierced at the top. The hole was big enough to get your finger through.

"There was a little girl sitting in the seat underneath the window with her mum sat next to her."

Kent Police confirmed officers attended the scene and looked over the vehicle but no object was found and the incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Mrs Marshall, from Maidstone, said everyone on board believed a bullet had been shot at the bus.

She said: "At one point we were looking on the floor for a bullet but then the driver made us all move to the back of the bus and drove us to the next stop.

"We were then ushered on to another bus and continued our journey. The mother and her daughter stayed to talk to police.

"The mother of the girl had said she felt something fly past her head but couldn't be sure whether it was the missile or a shard from the window."

A spokesman for Arriva, who operate the service between Maidstone and Coxheath, said: "I can confirm that an object did hit one of our buses on service 89, though no one on board the bus was hurt.

"Such incidents are potentially dangerous and this one has been reported to the police. We would look to prosecute anyone involved in the incident."

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