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A black cab driver picked up a cyclist while he was mounted on his bike before hurling him to the ground during a rush hour road rage row, it was claimed today.

Witnesses said the taxi driver launched the shocking attack despite a crowd of bystanders urging him to calm down during the rush hour incident in Oxford Street this morning.

Personal assistant Lu Simons, 54, said she was exiting Oxford Circus Tube station at about 8.15am when she heard a commotion nearby.

"There was a group of five or six people trying to get the taxi driver to calm down," she told the Standard.

"The next thing I know the man picked up the cyclist and the bike and chucked him on the ground.

“He wasn’t bleeding and he managed to get up immediately but obviously he was very shaken. He said his shoulder hurt as well.

“I rushed over to the cyclist and said I’d be a witness if he wanted to call the police but he said there was no point.

“Then the driver got back in his taxi and drove around the cyclist. I thought he shouldn’t get away with it so I took some pictures."

She added: "It all happened so quickly. It was very unpleasant and unnerving to see it happen on the streets of London.”

Witnesses said the cyclist was in his early 20s while the driver was in his 50s.

Mrs Simons said she planned to make a complaint to the Licensed Taxi Driver Association after the alleged incident.

The LTDA said the driver involved was not one of its members.

A police spokesman said the incident had not been reported but urged any witnesses to contact them on 101.