A bus driver whose life was torn apart after he was sacked for taking time off after a boozed-up passenger assaulted him has been awarded £75,000 compensation.

Robert Latimer, 63, said the incident in February 2006, in which a drunk passenger hit him with a bag of beer bottles while he was driving the R70 through Twickenham, had cost him his health, home, job and 42-year marriage.

He said: "The compensation will help pay for treatment and help me rebuild my life to a certain extent but this attack and the way I was treated by Travel London has changed my personality - and with that I lost my wife."

Mr Latimer's solicitor, David Mole, said: "Travel London admits that if it had fitted drivers' cabs with perspex screens, this attack would not have happened. How it can still insist Mr Latimer was responsible for his injuries is beyond me."

Mr Mole said despite being signed off work by a doctor, Mr Latimer was repeatedly called to ask why he was not there.

The company, a provider of public transport, stopped paying Mr Latimer's salary and sick pay and sacked him in March 2007, refusing him the right to appeal.

Mr Latimer, who now lives in Tyne and Wear, launched a claim against Travel London for personal injury, unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Travel London agreed to an out of court settlement to compensate Mr Latimer, outside Newcastle County Court earlier this month, on the day the case was due to be heard.

A spokesman for Travel London said: "We would like to make clear that we're a reliable and responsible bus operator who put the safety of staff and customers first.

"At the time of the incident We were working through a programme to fit all buses with perspex screens."