A disabled woman was left battered and bruised after being beaten up for taking up too much space on a bus.

Dartford woman Sandra Phillips, who suffers from osteoarthritis, was attacked after getting on the 96 bus near the Orchard Theatre, Dartford.

Both she and her sister, Kim Thompson, had got on the bus with their mobility walkers, before she says another woman got on with a pram and began arguing about space.

"She started saying can you move your feet, and then she started standing on my feet," recalled Sandra. "She said can you stop kicking me. I said 'I'm not kicking you', but I couldn't move, there was no space."

Sandra, 53, says the woman then began hurling abuse at her before physically assaulting her.

"The things coming out of her mouth were disgusting," she said. "I recorded it but at the end she smashed my phone.

"It was diabolical and all in front of her children. She was saying 'you're nothing but this and that, you're fake,'

"I was just sitting there quietly."

When the attack turned physical, Sandra and her sister say other people on the bus joined in.

"Another girl came down the stairs and said 'get her over.' I got kicked and pushed from the back, and I ended up on the floor," she added.

"She was kicking me in the ribs and the legs. I was putting my arms above my face to try to protect myself. I've got bruises all up my arm and foot, bruised ribs

"When I got up the other girl came downstairs and kicked me. When she kicked me the second time I twisted her leg.

"She got hold of my hair and was just ripping my hair side to side.

"Afterwards she ripped the phone out of my hand and smashed it on the floor."

Eventually the bus was stopped and police were called, but the woman had left the scene before officers arrived.

Sandra's sister Kim, 51, added: "It was terrible. Someone was shouting 'do it, smash her face in'.

"Someone else was kicking her in the left side. Another lady came down and was repeatedly kicking my sister."

"She's covered in bruises from head to toe", she added.

Sandra was taken to Darent Valley Hospital for X-rays, which revealed she had not suffered broken bones, but she was nevertheless badly bruised.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed they were called on the evening of Saturday, July 16 to an alleged assault on a woman, aged in her 50s, on board a bus in Dartford.

They said officers are investigating and there have been no arrests at this stage, although inquiries continue.