A BUS driver who deliberately pushed a cyclist off his bike has been ordered to pay him compensation by York magistrates.

Stephen Metcalfe got out of the Number 10 bus he was driving, walked past another bus ahead of him and shoved the cyclist into some railings near Walmgate Bar, Simon Ostler said in prosecution.

The cyclist had been remonstrating with the driver of the other bus over his refusal to allow him on board at York Railway Station shortly before.

In a victim impact statement, the cyclist said: “I cannot believe what had happened. The attack was totally unprovoked and makes me feel very vulnerable.”

Solicitor Steve Munro said of his client Metcalfe. “It was nothing to do with him, but unfortunately he got involved in it.

“He was concerned for the passengers on his bus and the bus ahead of him and that is why he got involved. He is remorseful and he has been disciplined by his employer.”

Sitting with two other magistrates, Malcolm Smith told Metcalfe: “We appreciate that as a bus driver you have a very stressful job to do. However, you cannot push people off their bikes, even if they are causing a problem in the road.”

Metcalfe, 61, of Swan Court, Piccadilly, York, has been a bus driver for three years.

He pleaded guilty to assault. He was fined £400 and ordered to pay £100 compensation to the cyclist, £85 prosecution costs and a £40 statutory surcharge.

Mr Ostler said the cyclist suffered minor injuries to his shoulder and rib area, a wrenched wrist and sprained elbow among others.

The prosecutor said the cyclist was on his way home to Pocklington with his bike. He had tried to catch a bus at the railway station, but was told company policy didn’t allow passengers to board with bikes. He phoned his father and collect him and was on his way to meet him in Lawrence Street when he saw the same bus behind him and stopped to remonstrate with its driver.

Mr Munro said Metcalfe had acted out of character. In the past his employer had commended him for the way he had handled a situation when a “cyclist had ridden into his bus to commit suicide”.