A horrified mother faces weeks of worry waiting for her three-year-old daughter’s blood test results after the tot pricked her finger on a used needle she found down the side of a bus seat.

Terri Hessing, who lives in Exeter Close, caught the Arriva SB2 bus at around 2pm on Tuesday from Stevenage town centre with her daughter Jessica.

The mother-of-four assumed that she was looking out of the window but was shocked when she turned around to see her daughter with a needle in her hand.

The 31-year-old said: “I asked her if she had been pricked by it and she said yes.

“I couldn’t see any blood but I thought I’d better go to the doctors’ surgery anyway.

“They advised me to go to A&E at Lister Hospital where they could run some tests. The whole thing was really traumatic, especially for a three-year-old to go through.

“There was blood in that needle and she could have caught anything from HIV to Hepatitis C. It was really worrying and I just hope she going to be OK.”

The pair were fast-tracked at the hospital and only had to wait an hour to be seen on Tuesday evening. Doctors have arranged for Jessica to go back in four weeks so they can take some blood samples from her which will be sent away for analysis – which should take another week.

All this means the family will have to over a month before they know if Jessica can be given the all clear.

To make things worse Terri claimed that the bus driver seemed completely unconcerned when she told him what had happened. “The driver’s reaction was appalling. He just didn’t seem to care and told me to throw the needle in the bin,” she said.

“I can’t believe they don’t clean the buses more often. Loads of kids use them and this could have happened to anyone.

“Someone from Arriva called me on Wednesday to ask me about the details about what happened, where and on which bus.

“The lady I spoke to didn’t even offer me an apology which I think is completely disgraceful.”

A spokesman for Arriva said: “As soon as this matter was reported we initiated a full investigation as we are as concerned as the family are about this matter. Once our investigations are complete we will be making contact with the family.”