Transport chiefs have launched an investigation after a gay couple were reportedly thrown off a bus for kissing.

Jack James, 23, said he and his partner were ordered off a number 89 bus near Blackheath in south-east London by the driver, who subjected them to a volley of abuse.

James, an event co-ordinator from Greenwich, told the Evening Standard: “We were chatting away when my partner gave me a peck on the lips.

“The bus driver shouted: ‘Oi, you two, don’t do that on my fucking bus or you can get off, I don’t want to watch that’.”

James said that, initially, the couple thought the driver could not be speaking to them. He added: “When the bus stopped at our stop I walked up to the driver and politely asked the driver if he was talking to us. His reply was: ‘Yes, it’s my bus, it is my rules, and I don’t want to watch that. It’s disgusting. Get off the bus.’

“Once we got off the bus we were fuming and I was shaking. The bus stopped again and he shouted and told us we were not real men and we should fuck off.”

The alleged incident happened on 8 August at around 10.30pm.

Ken Davidson, Transport for London’s head of bus operations, said: “All customers have the right to use our services without fear of being abused and offensive behaviour is completely unacceptable.

“We would like to reassure Mr James that this matter is being taken very seriously and that a thorough investigation is being conducted by [bus company] Go-Ahead.”

This month, hundreds of people took part in a “big consensual kiss-in” at a Sainsbury’s store in Brighton in protest at the treatment of two women who were threatened with ejection from the store a few days earlier for kissing.