Bus Driver Jailed for using his Bus to ram a Cyclist off the Road

Jailed: Gavin Hill was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the attack

A bus driver who used his vehicle 'like a weapon' to ram a cyclist off the road has been jailed for 17 months.

Reckless driver Gavin Hill, 29, swerved into cyclist Phillip Mead after getting into an argument at a roundabout in Bristol.

Mr Mead was flung over his handlebars and catapulted 10ft across the road. He suffered a broken leg and fractured wrist.

As he lay on the ground in agony, the driver simply straightened up the single decker bus and continued on the journey.

Captured on CCTV, bus driver Gavin Hill swerves to the right of the cyclist Phillip Mead as if to overtake him in Bristol city centre

Impact: The bus driver cuts back in sharply and collides with the cyclist who is seen in this picture going flying over the handlebars

Hill pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 17 months at Bristol Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Mark Horton said his action 'was not an accident' and added: 'You used the bus as a weapon to bully and intimidate Mr Mead.'

The court heard how Hill got into a heated exchange with Mr Mead at the St James Barton roundabout in central Bristol at 8.30am on April 5 last year.

Mr Mead is said to have tugged at one of the bus's windscreen wipers before they both moved away from a set of traffic lights.Mr Mead tumbles onto the ground in a heap as the bus towers menacingly over him. He suffered a broken leg and fractured wrist in the road rage ramming

Mr Mead lies on the ground in pain after the attack but as can be seen from the CCTV the bus driver straightens up the vehicle and continues towards the traffic lights

In a CCTV clip shown to the court, the cyclist is shown riding in front of the Bugler Coaches vehicle before the bus pulls out to overtake him.

But the bus then suddenly swerves to the left - knocking into Mr Mead and sending him sprawling across the road.

Mr Mead, a father of two, spent two weeks in hospital and had operations to repair his left knee and wrist following the incident.

He spent six weeks in plaster and was not allowed to cycle for four months but is now back on his bike and commuting to work.

The computer programmer, who lives in of St Anne's, Bristol, with wife Samantha, said: 'I think he meant to brush against me and give me a fright.

'I don't think he set out to break my bones, or at least I like to think not. I remember losing my balance and rolling over a couple of times.

'I tried to stand up and could see that my bike was under the bus between the front and back wheels.

'It doesn't matter to me what sentence he gets, it won't change what has already happened. For me what is important is that he has acknowledged what he did.'

Hill, who had been a bus driver for ten years, described the incident as a 'moment of madness'.

He was told he would serve half his sentence before being considered for release on licence, but he was sacked by Bugler Coaches following the incident.

Gerald Creed, managing director of Bugler Coaches, said: 'We were deeply shocked when we heard of this incident and once we had established what had happened Mr Hill was immediately dismissed as we did not want him driving one of our buses ever again.'

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