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Sir Brian, chief executive and founder of the bus and train empire, said that until last month his website had been one of the first listings showing up when the words “Brian Souter” were typed into Google.

However, after 13 August the site “www.briansouter.com” disappeared from the search engine results unless users typed the website’s full address into Google, a statement from Sir Brian claimed.

Last night, he accused Google of censoring free speech and said he intends campaigning to “end manipulation of which websites can be seen and which are blocked by search engines”.

He plans to make a representation to Westminster’s culture, media and sport committee, asking for an investigation.

The website tells the entrepreneur’s life story, has a photo gallery and a section headed “Brian Souter Beliefs” listing recent controversies such as a £500,000 donation to the SNP and the campaign he led to retain Clause 28 banning schools from teaching children about homosexuality.

Gordon Beattie, Sir Brian’s public relations and web media adviser, said: “Sir Brian is not doing this as a personal issue, it’s a freedom of speech issue. It’s not Google’s place to decide which sites we can see and those we can’t.

“It amounts to search engine censorship and it does not afford what Google says it is striving to create – a good user experience.

“We wrote to Google on 22 August asking why Sir Brian’s site was no longer listed on the search engine, and the mumbled response was ‘algorithm changes’. They suggested one tweak to the website which we immediately made, but to this day his site remains out of bounds on Google searches.

“We have seen a public outcry over the abuse of power at the News of the World. Let’s hope Google sees the wisdom of maintaining its search neutrality and takes immediate steps to protect its editorial propriety. There is no evidence someone has infiltrated Google and brought about this change. But even the best [sites] can be hacked.”

Mr Beattie said Google had been e-mailed four times and telephoned twice in an attempt to resolve the situation. But despite Mr Souter’s team resubmitting the website twice after Google suggested one small technical change, the matter has not been resolved.

At present the only way to access the site on Google is via the search bar by typing in ‘www.briansouter.com’, while the site can be accessed by other search engines simply by typing in the words ‘Brian Souter’.”

A spokesman for Google UK said the company was in contact with Sir Brian’s team and it was hoped the matter would be resolved shortly. “While we can’t comment in detail on each individual website, overall we take great pride in facilitating free expression on the internet,” the spokesman said.

“Our search algorithm relies on more than 200 signals to help people find the answers they’re looking for, and last year alone we made more than 500 improvements to our algorithm, while experimenting with thousands more.”

Bryan Glick, editor-in-chief of Computer Weekly, said: “I would be very surprised if anyone in Google had taken it off. But there is the possibility Mr Souter’s website could have been hacked into.”