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A bus driver has been disciplined after his vehicle hit a cyclist in the town centre.

Rider Richard Black captured the frightening moment on a camera he was wearing on his cycle helmet.

The 33-year-old cyclist said it feels like he takes his life into his own hands when he gets on his bike to travel to and from work every day.

His scrape with a Thames Travel 144 bus came as he pulled away from traffic lights in Gun Street and turned right in to St Mary’s Butts.

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Mr Black said: “After turning on to St Mary’s Butts, the 144 bus attempted to pass me on the right hand side and did not complete the manoeuvre before the road gets very narrow as the restricted entry section begins.

“I braced myself assuming the bus would then carry on down the road towards the next set of traffic lights but to my surprise it actually pulled into a bus stop, trapping my bike against the kerb and the bus and eventually hitting me. You can hear this moment clearly on the video.”

The video also shows alarmed passengers on the bus going to the windows to check Mr Black is all right and concerned passers-by asking if he is okay.

Mr Black said: “Subsequently I dismounted my bicycle and walked up to the driver and opened the door to make him aware that he had hit me.

“I was greeted with a rather muted apology and the claim he ‘didn’t see me’.

“I suppose the other option is that he did see me and decide to pull over anyway.

“If this had happened at a number of other locations I could have been trapped against a wall or barrier on the roadside. I wouldn’t have escaped with only a bruised arm.”

Mr Black, of West Reading, wrote to Wallingford-based Thames Travel and received a response apologising for the distress caused.

A statement to the Reading Post from Thames Travel general manager Adrian Tullett said: “We set the highest standards of safety and driving for our colleagues and as a result of the incident involving Mr Black a full inquiry was conducted and the driver was disciplined.”

Mr Black was prompted to start recording his journeys after an incident some months ago in which a car pulled across in front of him in Oxford Road and caused him to collide with the passenger door.

The car drove off without stopping but police told him there would be little chance of prosecuting the driver without an independent witness.

Mr Black said: “Cycling should not be a dangerous activity and the number of close calls I have experienced seems to be increasing.

“I hope Reading Borough Council will be able to make many improvements to cycling in the Reading area and that more people will take up videoing their journeys, as often this is the only way a prosecution can be made.”