A driver was praised after ordering a man to get off his bus after he coughed a "reddish brown substance" on seats and the floor.
Although he was carrying a mask, witnesses claim the passenger was not wearing it and after coughing up the substance, began wiping it on his clothes, hair and surfaces on the bus.
Face masks are mandator y on public transport as part of efforts to prevent coronavirus spreading further, and anyone with symptoms of the disease is still urged to stay indoors.
The incident occurred in St Helens at 5.21pm on Sunday, aboard the 10a Arriva bus service.
A fellow passenger, Rachel Fagan, said the man began coughing without a mask a few minutes after she boarded at the Bridge Street bus-stop.
She told the ECHO : "I just want to point out that the driver done the right thing by having the man leave the bus.
"He pulled over the next stop so everyone including himself could change bus, so it could be taken away to be cleaned as the substance was all over the floor and sides.
"The man had his mask around his neck and not over his mouth or nose until asked by the driver once he noticed.
"But not before he coughed up all sorts of brown/ reddish substance, everyone moved to the back of the bus, there was only four of us excluding this man on the bus at the time, while he wiped it in his hair, hands, pants etc trying to hide it, this is when I started filming.
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"The bus driver noticed and pulled over asking him to leave, I missed it on film but he continued to be coughing in front of the driver, making everyone uncomfortable and thought he had done nothing wrong."
The video shows the bus pulling to a halt while the driver asks the man to "get off please."
The man protests, showing that he is wearing a mask and asking "why?".
But the driver responds by shouting "because you didn't have a mask on, it was around your neck, and you were coughing your head off, I'm not having it mate."
The man gets up and walks towards the driver who says: "The bus is going nowhere until you get off lad."
But the passenger continues to protest and the driver becomes increasingly frustrated, eventually telling him to "f*** off" and "get the f*** off the bus."
Eventually other passengers also ask him to leave, and the man exits, sticking up his middle finger at the driver as the bus closes its doors and drives away.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care, 138 people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
