Bus crashes into tree as driver mugged by passenger

A Christchurch bus careered into a tree while its driver was being dragged from his seat and mugged last night.

The driver was attacked in the suburb of Hoon Hay, seconds after picking a man up from a roadside stop, The Press reported today.

Detective Richard Morgan told the newspaper a group of the man's mates had "come out of nowhere and pulled him (the driver) out".

"That's when his foot came off the accelerator and the bus rolled to the tree."

The youths stole the driver's change tray which contained about $170.

Local resident Quentin McKie told The Press he had heard a "huge thud" outside his home.

"I raced outside and there was the driver looking like a stunned mullet ... he was shocked and he kept saying 'I can't recognise them'."

Mr Morgan said police were looking for a Polynesian man of medium build in his mid to late teens.

It was the third attack on a Christchurch bus driver in as many months.

Orbiter bus driver Leslie Stringer, 53, spent almost a week in hospital with severe bruising, cuts to his head and neck and suspected spinal injuries after he was set upon by a 15-year-old and others in the Christchurch suburb of Opawa on May 7.

A bus driver was also attacked in suburban Templeton on May 11.

- NZPA