A council has said it “won’t tolerate repugnant behaviour” after a shuttle bus driver was investigated for allegedly having a poo on the side of the road.

The experimental shuttle service Chariot was approved by Transport for London earlier this year, allowing passengers to track their drivers – who are in Ford Transit wagons – on an app similar to Uber.

Chariot, a subsidiary of Ford, operates two routes in Greenwich – one from Erith to Abbey Wood station and another along Shooters Hill to North Greenwich.

Ford has been forced to apologise after one of its Chariot drivers was caught “defecating” along his route.

Complaints were made on social media, and the allegation was raised during a Twitter question-and-answer service with Greenwich cabinet member Chris Kirby last week.

The councillor was asked: “Any luck with Chariot regarding drivers defecating on the side of the road?”

Cllr Kirby replied the situation was “deeply frustrating”, adding the council had a lot of information from residents.

When approached for a comment, a Ford spokesperson confirmed it was aware of the incident in question.

A statement said: “Chariot takes this type of inappropriate behaviour very seriously. We have investigated this, identified the driver and taken appropriate actions in order to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“Our drivers get regular breaks during their working hours and there are facilities that they can use throughout the day. We apologise for this incident and we will keep working hard to ensure this does not happen again.”

A spokesman for the council said the issue will be taken up with TfL following Chariot’s apology.

He said: “Greenwich Council will not tolerate any kind of repugnant behaviour that spoils our beautiful borough.

“We immediately raised this incident with Chariot, who have apologised and stated that they take this type of inappropriate behaviour very seriously.

“They have investigated the reported incident, identified the driver and taken appropriate actions to ensure this does not happen again.

“The council will also be following the issue up with TfL, who licence the Chariot service.”

Another allegation was also made in August of a driver urinating in the woods near to Plum Lane, with one commenter mentioning seeing a driver leaving the woods with toilet roll.