A bus driver, who used his vehicle to ram a cyclist form his path in Bristol, has been jailed for 17 months.

Gavin Hill, 29-year-old bus driver, pleaded guilty in Bristol Crown Court on Thursday for dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm, Daily Mail reported.

The CCTV footage which captured the incident that occurred on April 5, 2011, shows that Hill deliberately knocked 43-year-old cyclist Phillip Mead off his bike by swerving the bus into him.

The incident which happened near St. James Barton roundabout in Bristol left Mead with fractured left wrist and leg and crushed his bike.

Both the bus driver and the cyclist were involved in a heated argument before the incident happened.

But as soon as Mead cycled off, Hill, who had been been driving for Bugler Coaches for 10 months, overtook the cycle and knocked the father-of-two onto the road, Mirror News reported.

Mead was then treated by paramedics at the scene after suffering from fractures, while Hill was arrested by police.

This was not an accident, it was an assault, deliberate dangerous driving. You used that vehicle as a weapon to bully and intimidate the cyclist who, in the end, was struck by that bus, Judge Mark Horton said.

Hill was also banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.

We were deeply shocked when we heard of this incident and once we had established what had happened, Mr Hill was immediately dismissed as we did not want him driving one of our buses ever again,” Gerald Creed, managing director of Bugler Coaches, told the Bristol Evening Post.

“We are proud of all our drivers who are extremely professional and highly vigilant of the safety of passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. We can assure all passengers that this was an isolated incident by a driver that badly let down our company, Creed added.

Watch the video here:

Court Ram