Deryck Profitt had denied a charge of dangerous driving but was found guilty in court. In addition to the driving ban he was fined £700.
The court heard how Profitt had been driving the number 11 bus along South Side and the incident happened on the sharp corner by Vets4Pets at Mont Crevelt House.
The cyclist told the court how he had been riding towards Bulwer Avenue at about 8.30am. As he got to the corner he became aware of the bus alongside him. It crossed the white hatching in the centre of the road and he believed its offside wheels would have been in the opposite carriageway. Confronted by a commercial vehicle approaching the bend from the opposite direction, the driver had cut across in front of the cyclist and forced him to make an emergency stop.
‘If I hadn’t I feared I would be squished against the granite wall,’ the rider said.
Due to the amount of traffic on the road at that time of the day, the rider was able to pull alongside the bus further along the road and speak to the driver through his open window.
‘When I told him that his driving had almost killed me he gave a bizarre response and said “thank you”, said the rider.
‘When I told him I was going to report him to police his response was only two words.’
A passenger who had been sitting on the offside raised section of the bus gave evidence. He said he had seen the bus cross the cyclist’s path on the corner and his emergency stop. The cyclist remained placid but the witness said he was disturbed by what had happened.
‘I thought the bus driver’s manoeuvre was dangerous and began thinking about how I could give the cyclist my support,’ he said.
Profitt said both the cyclist and the passenger had got it wrong. He accepted overtaking but said he had started the manoeuvre as far back as the Crocq clock tower on South Side and had completed by the time he got to the bend in question.
He asked how the cyclist could have seen the offside wheels of his bus when he had been riding on the nearside of the road. He had offered to provide video evidence to police which would have supported his case but said he had not been aware that none was available as the bus contract changeover had been happening at the time.
Judge Gary Perry said he found the cyclist to have been an honest and reliable witness and said nothing suggested that the bus passenger had come to court to lie.
This was a blind bend where people should not be overtaking, particularly a bus, he said, adding that it was lucky that the cyclist had not been seriously hurt.
‘This was a very dangerous manoeuvre from someone driving a large public service vehicle and involving one of the most vulnerable road users, a cyclist,’ he said.