Commuters were “held hostage” by an angry bus driver for nearly 45 minutes yesterday after a passenger threatened to report him for using his mobile phone while driving.

“He locked the doors and wouldn’t let us off. He screamed at me, hurling profanities. I’m still shaken by it,” John Kane, 62, told Times of Malta.

He said he wanted to hit me... he was twice my size

The passenger, who was on his way to Mater Dei Hospital, said the driver drove at speeds in excess of 80 kilometres per hour through the narrow streets of Buġibba and Qawra.

To make matters worse, the driver texted and made calls as the crowded bus sped past opposing rush-hour traffic at around 8.45am, he said. After just a few minutes on board, Mr Kane attempted to disembark in Burmarrad, but the driver had other ideas.

“I told the driver I would be reporting him for the way he was driving. But as soon as I said this he switched off the bus and locked the doors.

“Passengers told him to drive on but he just ignored them.

“He said he wanted to hit me... he was twice my size. I was rattled but tried not to show it,” Mr Kane said.

The driver refused to open the doors for more than half an hour, except for the rear emergency exit which he walked to and pried open to smoke a cigarette.

“He wouldn’t let me out through the rear exit either, he was blocking it with his body,” said the expat from Qawra.

When contacted, police and Transport Malta authorities said they were investigating the incident.

Marija Dolores Cauchi, another passenger who was also on her way to the hospital aboard the same number 31 bus, said the driver was furious and could not be reasoned with. “I was one of the people who tried to get the driver to come back behind the wheel and get on with it but he didn’t even acknowledge us. When I tried again he said ‘shut up stupid’ [aqtgħaha balala],” she said.

The driver eventually opened the doors of the bus as police officers, who happened to be passing by, knocked on them.

Mr Kane left the bus and made his way to the hospital with a friend.

Reflecting on what happened, he is questioning if the bus driver panicked when he saw him holding a 50c ticket in his hand, when in fact he had been charged €1.50.

A similar incident happened last year when a bus driver had held passengers inside a locked bus in Sliema.

That driver, described by witnesses as “furious, stocky and aggressive”, had locked the bus doors as he hurled abuse at a migrant on his way to work.

Passengers were stuck in the bus for around half an hour until police forced the driver to open the doors.