Schoolchildren are facing a bus ban amid claims their behaviour could spark a tragedy.

Bus bosses have threatened to ban pupils from the 5B service, which stops outside Dorothy Stringer High School in Surrenden Road, Brighton, unless teachers impose order.

They say pupils crowding at bus stops and squeezing on to buses used by the public is not fair on other passengers.

Head teacher Trevor Allen is calling for a dedicated school bus service to be brought back in.

He said the overcrowding was creating a "rats in a cage" syndrome, adding to the chaos.

A bus supervisor said last week a driver had to pull up and radio for support as almost 100 children ran riot.

The bus was cleared and pupils made to wait 30 minutes before another arrived.

The bedlam was caught on a CCTV video which Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company has retained for evidence.

The supervisor said: "We've got nothing against the school but this needs to be sorted out before we get a tragedy on our hands.

"The pupils sit out on the road and jostle and push each other as the bus pulls up. It will only take one to push another in front of the bus and there will be a serious accident.

"We have pupils running alongside, some trying to climb in through the emergency exit. It's become a nightmare."

One passenger, an elderly woman, said: "I just try to avoid the bus if I can. There's swearing and bullying and it's impossible to get off when they're crowded in the aisle.

"If there's any way I can use a different bus I will but sometimes I just have to grit my teeth and bear it."

A 12-year-old pupil at the school said: "There's often a lot of trouble. Sometimes, when there are certain kids on the bus, I don't even bother to get on, I just walk.

Roger French, the bus firm's managing director, said: "It's always a challenge to handle children who don't seem to conform to normal social etiquette.

"We're asking the school to provide supervision at the stop. The children's behaviour is so bad we can't continue to put up with it.

This is a main route, not a school bus, and it's not fair on the other passengers or the drivers.

"It's not our job to control the behaviour of children.

"We don't want to cut the service, it's not the way we do business, but we may have to stop these pupils from getting on if nothing is done."

Mr Allen said: "The basic problem is there are no school buses in Brighton and Hove. I have every sympathy with the company.

"It's not just a problem with our school, it's virtually every school. The bus services are either ill-timed in terms of school needs or inadequate in terms of frequency.

"There's a massive over-capacity which gives rise to this rats in a cage syndrome "It's not as simple as just introducing supervision. The bus stop is not on the school site. But if we are ever given clear evidence of wrong-doing among our pupils while they are off-site, we always take stern action."

The bus company, city council and teachers are due to meet next week in an effort to resolve the problem.