A woman who called a bus driver an “a**hole” for not letting her onto a bus without first closing a pushchair in which her two-year-old was asleep, spent 47 hours under arrest following an altercation with the police who escorted her off the bus without her children.

Polina Gutshabes, 25, from Ukraine, was charged with assaulting and resisting the police, threatening them, disobeying their orders and disturbing the peace. The incident happened last Sunday when Ms Gutshabes and her husband and their two children, ages two and four, boarded a bus heading to St Paul’s Bay.

When they got on, the driver told her that his route was a busy one and that she had to close the pushchair to allow space for more people. The woman refused because her child was asleep, leading the driver to ask her to leave the bus.

The woman asked for the bus fares to be refunded but the driver refused, leading to the woman calling him an "asshole." The driver left the bus at this point and went to a nearby police station to ask for help.

Two police officers got onto the bus and asked the woman to leave, but she refused. She then became "hysterical" when the two officers, together with another female officer, forcefully removed her from the bus.

Defence lawyers Giannella de Marco and Steve Tonna Lowell contested the validity of the woman's arrest but Magistrate Aaron Bugeja ruled that it was legal as there was alleged violence against police officers. Police inspector Elton Taliana said the "hysterical" woman kicked the female officer in the chest and legs and scratched her.

Dr de Marco replied that there was no legitimate reason to remove her from the bus. “What a shame that we keep someone arrested for 47 hours because she allegedly called a bus driver an asshole when it was the driver who abandoned the bus and ran to the police station,” Dr de Marco said.

After pleading not guilty to the charges brought against her, Magistrate Bugeja granted her bail against a €500 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee.