ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

This shocking footage shows the moment a man was kicked through the window of a double-decker bus in north London.

The man, 43, was hit with such force in the midriff that he went through a pane of glass on the top deck and fell on to the road near Finsbury Park.

CCTV footage of the attack, which happened just after 2pm on December 27, 2012, was taken from a camera on a 254 bus that was travelling along Seven Sisters Road directly behind the double-decker the man fell from.

It was shown on Sunday night on BBC Two show 'The Route Masters: Running London's Roads', which charted how police investigate crimes on London's vast network of bus routes.

Police were filmed hunting one suspect on a charge of grievous bodily harm after the victim was left paralysed from the waist down.

A 38-year-old man was arrested five days later in connection with the incident.

He was later acquitted of grievous bodily harm with intent at Wood Green Court on August 19 last year.

The victim's sister, named on the programme as Gillian, told the BBC that her brother's back was broken in the fall and he was "paralysed", while the programme makers described his injuries as "severe".

She said: "I'm still finding it hard to believe that someone's actually injured my brother in this way.

"At the moment they can't pinpoint a time on his recovery due to the fact that his back was so badly broken and his spinal chord was damaged. He needs to recover from his broken back before we even know if he's able to walk again.

"He's paralysed basically - he can't feel his legs, which is a life-changing experience. It's obviously going to be a bit hard for him."

She continued: "I don't know how one human being can do that. I don't understand and I'm still finding it hard to understand this."

Detective Constable Tony Barun, a specialist safer transport command officer for the Met, told the programme: "It's still shocking. Although we see violence every day, it's our bread and butter, it's still shocking to see something as graphic and violent as this.

"We know these window can be kicked out with a great deal of effort, but to see someone kicked so hard that he actually goes through the window and it pops the window out of its frame - I've never seen that before."

The bus driver, identified only as Elliot by the BBC, described the moment he was alerted to the incident.

He said: "I was driving along and then passengers came running down the stairs saying 'Driver, driver, stop the bus, stop the bus! There's a fight upstairs, there's a fight upstairs!'

"So I'm slowing down and as I'm slowing down I look in my near side mirror and I just see a body drop. So I'm thinking; 'What the hell was going on?'

"So I pull over and a lady comes up to me and tells me that someone's got kicked out of a window. I called the ambulance and police, told them what happened. I came out of the bus and I just see the guy on the street. He was in a bad way.

"He was trying to get up but couldn't. He had spinal injuries. Then after a little while he started coughing up blood.

"Luckily there was a nurse passing by so she stayed with him. But all the other passengers they were crowded around - I was trying to get information from them about what happened. I asked them 'where's the person that did it?' and they said he had ran off."

Official figures show there were more than 20,000 crimes reported on London’s buses in 2013.

Transport for London now funds a special unit within the Metropolitan Police - the 1,800 officers of the Safer Transport Command - in an attempt to cut rates.

CCTV plays a crucial role in detecting and investigating crimes. A single London bus now has more than 60 cameras.

Officers said violent attacks are rare with pickpocketing accounting for half of all crimes.