"Cycling towards Moorfields / Gibraltar Street I was passed by this bus immediately before the Mathew Street bus stop; which is a lay-by type stop.
I would like to say here that the overtake began perfectly, the driver pulling out and leaving at least 3' of space - normally this would be an exemplary overtake when many use the cycle lane markings as an excuse to pass closely without pulling out - and thus I do not believe that what happened next was an act of malice or in any way wilful; but rather a misjudgement. My reason for reporting though, is that the misjudgement had the capacity to be serious, in that I had to take evasive action involving hard braking and leaving the road to avoid collision.
I estimate that I was travelling between 20-25MPH along the cycle lane approaching the bus stop; as the bus passed with plenty of space initially, as it was about 3/4 of the way past me and closing on the bus stop, the driver put on the left indicator, pulled left and began to brake. This meant that the bus was only inches in front of me as it pulled across and into the stop, braking as it did so
I was thus forced to brake hard and pull left into the stop to avoid colliding with the rear of the bus as it swung across my path. This is highly dangerous to drive in such a manner; and unnecessary as to approach the stop behind me at a moderate speed and pull in behind would not have caused any delay to the service whatsoever.
If you do review the forward facing CCTV showing the proximity to the bus stop, and speak to the driver involved; please do pass on my thanks for the initial space given and simply ask that a little more care is taken on the approach to a stop as I am sure there was no intent to cause an issue but the misjudgement with a large vehicle had potential to be more serious.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter."
