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Shocked witnesses have described an apparent bus rage incident in which a driver ran a cyclist off the road and left him injured on the pavement.
Passengers and motorists were stunned as the bus appeared to pursue two cyclists along Great North Rd in Auckland's Pt Chevalier, with its horn blaring.
One of the cyclists, Nigel Stent, pounded on the side of the bus with his fist, before being forced off the road into the kerb. He fell on to the pavement, suffering cuts to his elbow and knee, and a grazed hip.
The driver of the Urban Express bus stopped and locked the doors against the furious cyclists while calling on his radio for police back-up.
Passengers, unable to get off the bus, watched as the driver yelled at the cyclists: "F*** off. Stay there, I'm calling the police." The police did not arrive and, after a roadside altercation, the driver drove off.
Stent, who works for an engineering firm in Newmarket and regularly cycles to and from his home in Waitakere, said he had his injuries bandaged at an ambulance station.
He has reported the incident to the police and the bus company, and said he could have been killed.
"I was feeling harassed," said Stent. "I had no room at all. He came over and it was so deliberate. I've had a few guys pulling out in front of me before, but never like that guy."
Another cyclist, Paul Meyer, also reported the incident to police. "I was really shocked," he said. "Buses are always an issue for cyclists, but I've never seen that before. It looked like he was gunning for him."
Passengers said the driver started hooting his horn at cyclists almost from the start of the journey in the city centre.
One, Heidi Mehrtens, said she had complained to the company about the driver's behaviour, particularly when he was behind the cyclists in a shared bus/cycle lane in Pt Chevalier.
"I heard him say, 'get out of my bus lane'," she said. "I thought he was going to knock one off. He was doing it on purpose. I thought one was going to go under the bus wheels. I'm still in shock about it. I don't think he should be driving to be honest."
Motorist Dane Mitchell said he was "cut up" twice by the bus earlier in its journey. "I saw him knock the guy off his bike. I was really amazed at how erratic he was."
The driver of the bus would not comment.
Bernard Pavlovich, general manager of Pavlovich Coachlines which owns Urban Express, told the Herald on Sunday he had received at least four complaints about Thursday's incident. He said the driver was at work on Friday but not rostered on over the weekend. Pavlovich said the driver would appear before a disciplinary meeting tomorrow.
"The complaints were all similar... aggressive and inappropriate behaviour by the driver. He has given us a report and it would be fair to say his report differs from the complaints."
Pavlovich, a cyclist, added: "I know how these people feel. If what they said is true, if I was a cyclist I would be appalled. "
He said he was taking the issue seriously. "Certainly it appears there has been contact between the cyclist and the bus. That is serious. This has gone to a different level."
