A TAXI driver has been suspended after he threw a six-year-old boy out of his car in the pouring rain -- for being sick.

Mrs Lynne Williams, son Cameron and eight-year-old daughter Shannon were left stranded near Darwen's Sainsburys store, a mile from their home in Lynwood Avenue.

A spokesman for Rapid Taxis in Darwen today apologised for the incident and said the driver should have ensured the family arrived home.

Lynne said the driver had been 'heartless' and that the whole incident was 'disgusting'.

She was also left penniless as the driver demanded £50 for cleaning costs. She only had £30 on her which she gave him. The firm today promised to fully reimburse Mrs Williams.

She said she pleaded with the driver not to leave them and even offered to clean the taxi if the man drove the family the rest of the way home.

"He never gave a thought to how I and my children were to get home.

"Neither child had coats, my only concern was to get them home," said Lynne, 34, a classroom support assistant at St. Cuthbert's School, Darwen, where Shannon and Cameron are pupils.

"I feel I was treated very badly. A woman with two children on her own late at night. Accidents do happen but to punish a child in such fashion is disgusting.

"Anything could have happened. I shudder to think. The driver was heartless and could have taken us home he only seemed interested in money.

"I was not bothered about the money and would have paid him the extra after he had taken us home.

"I could understand him throwing out a drunken teenager but Cameron was ill.

"He certainly wasn't fit enough to walk home. He was up all that night being sick."

Lynne walked to her brother's house in Cleveland Terrace, from where she had originally booked the taxi.

She was meant to be spending the night there but had left because Cameron felt ill.

She ordered a second taxi from another company to get home and borrowed money from her brother to pay for it.

A spokesman for Rapid said new guidelines had now been issued to drivers to make sure this did not happen again.

He added : "Our priority is passengers not vehicles. All our drivers drive their own vehicles but we have a business in carrying people to their destinations.

"This driver should have made sure the family arrived home. I owe Mrs Marsden £30 and she will get every penny. We are sorry this happened."