PASSENGERS hurt when a bus hit a telegraph pole will not receive compensation, it has emerged.

Six people, including a fouryear- old boy, needed hospital treatment and others suffered minor injuries after a doubledecker Go North East bus veered across Front Street, Pity Me, near Durham City, at about 9.30am on Monday, December 7, 2009.

The driver, a man in his 50s, blacked out at the wheel.

A number of passengers pursued compensation, but their claims have been turned away.

The courts ruled that Go North East was not negligent because it could not have foreseen the blackout.

Lesley Aers, 64, from Durham City, was reading on the top deck en route to seeing her daughter, Rosa Aers, in Newcastle.

She was thrown forward, hitting her mouth against the seat in front.

Her bottom teeth were driven through her top lip and she has spent £9,000 on dental work. It was thought she may have been entitled to a £2,500 payout.

Mrs Aers, a retired school inspector, said: “I am surprised because I assumed a bus company would take some responsibility for their passengers, but they do not.”

Martin Harris, the commercial director at Go North East, said passenger safety was the firm’s priority and that the injuries caused were extremely unfortunate.

He said: “Regrettable as it was, accidents do happen and it is not always that someone is to blame.”