A primary school teacher today told how she was shoved in front of a double decker bus on Oxford Street for telling off two teenagers.

Geraldine Lynne, 56, was left lying in the middle of the busy shopping street in the path of the vehicle after confronting a boy who spat at her niece outside the River Island store.

Scotland Yard today released a picture of the teenager which Mrs Lynne took on her mobile before he attacked her and fled into Oxford Circus Tube station. Ms Lynne and her 25-year-old niece were shopping when the boy and a girl repeatedly stepped on her niece’s shoe heels at about 2.45pm on Saturday, June 15.

Ms Lynne said: “My niece turned round and asked them to stop and I told the two teens to walk in front of us. I assumed it was an accident. A few moments later, I heard them say, ‘Three, two, one’ and with that he spat at my niece. I was really shocked. The girl ran off but I managed to get my phone out, walked over to the boy, and took his photo.”

Ms Lynne, from Mill Hill, said the youth, wearing a blue Nike sweatshirt, then became “aggressive” as a bus stopped in traffic at the junction with Great Titchfield Street. “My niece saw him use both his hands and push me with full force”, she said. “I landed in front of the bus. Fortunately, it wasn’t moving. But I’m horrified to consider what might’ve happened if a 12-and-a-half tonne bus had run over me.

“I was thinking, ‘How dare he push me?’ I had really sore arms and ribs.”

Passers-by and staff from River Island and JD Sports rushed to help Ms Lynne. “It’s just so violent,” she said. “It’s never happened to me before ... it was frightening to think one small incident can escalate into being pushed in front of a bus.

“Why have he and the girl got that amount of anger in them at being told off on the street?”

Police are appealing for anyone who recognises the suspect to contact them on 101 quoting CAD4070/15Jun or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111