A MUSSELBURGH bus driver has escaped a road ban after he crashed into a cyclist, leaving the man with a collapsed lung.

Ryan Dewar was driving a No 16 Lothian Bus when he slammed into cyclist Thomas Schofield as he turned off a major road in Edinburgh.

Dewar, 47, had been stopped at traffic lights on Comiston Road when he was flashed to turn right by a bus travelling northbound into the city.

But as the bus pulled away, Mr Schofield appeared at speed from the near side of the northbound bus and was knocked from his bike, leaving him sprawled on the road.

Mr Schofield suffered a collapsed lung and a fractured collarbone, as well as multiple cuts and bruises to his head and face.

Following the impact, Dewar, of Mucklets Crescent, leapt from his bus cabin to attend to the victim and called the emergency services to attend.

The bus driver appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, where he admitted a charge of careless driving by failing to drive his vehicle with due care and attention.

Prosecutor Mark Keane said that Dewar was driving his double decker bus on Comiston Road at about 6.10pm on August 25 last year.

Mr Keane said that the bus had stopped at traffic lights with the intention of turning right onto Greenbank Crescent.

As the lights turned to green, Dewar was flashed to turn by a bus travelling in the opposite direction.

Mr Keane said: “As the lights turned to green, the accused [and the other bus driver] moved their buses forward.

“Neither the accused nor the other driver saw Thomas Schofield on his bicycle on the near side of the other bus.

“The accused turned his bus and as he turned right, Mr Schofield arrived from the near side of the bus.

“Mr Schofield reacted by braking sharply and tried to avoid the bus.”

The fiscal added the cyclist then “struck the front of the bus” before he he “hit the ground” following the crash.

Police and an ambulance attended at the scene and Dewar gave officers a negative roadside breath test.

CCTV of the incident was shown to the court following the bus driver’s guilty plea.

Andrew Mellor, defending solicitor, said that his client was a father-of-one and this was his first incident of any kind in 11 years of employment with Lothian Buses.

Mr Mellor said that the bus driver who flashed Dewar to turn right told police he “did not see” the cyclist or else he would not have indicated for Dewar’s bus to turn.

The driver told police he believed that the “cyclist was going too fast for the scenario” and that he had failed to adhere to signs on the bus not to undertake on the near side due to the dangerous nature of such a move.

Sheriff John Cook acknowledged the cyclist’s part in the incident and decided to admonish Dewar on the charge and place five penalty points on the bus driver’s licence.

Dewar admitted driving his bus without due care and attention and failing to keep a proper lookout for other road users, turning into the path of an oncoming cyclist, causing a collision with him and causing severe injury to Thomas Schofield at Comiston Road, Edinburgh, on August 25 last year.