AN OXFORD Bus Company driver has been suspended for "towing" a cyclist along one of the city's busiest roads.

Bar manager Athol Whitmore, 26, was stunned on Monday when he was a passenger on the Elms Rise 4A bus, in Botley Road, shortly before 1pm, and saw the towing incident.

As the single-decker approached Osney Bridge, a woman cyclist rode alongside the bus, before knocking on the glass door opposite the driver's cab.

According to Mr Whitmore, who lives in Old Botley, off Botley Road, the male driver then opened the electronic door and chatted to the cyclist as she hung on to the pole in the doorway.

"She must have been hanging on to the bus for at least 30 seconds as the bus travelled along Botley Road towards town," said Mr Whitmore.

"I was astonished at what I was seeing and I was going to say something to the driver but I didn't want to distract him any further.

"It looked like the driver and the girl knew each other and they were talking about mobile phone numbers.

"Following the inquest last month into the death of the girl who died in Cowley Road, I would have thought bus drivers would be making sure they followed the correct safety procedures.

"There was no way this driver could have given his full concentration to the road ahead of him, and he could have collided with a vehicle in front of him, or another cyclist.

"Towing the girl like that looked pretty dangerous itself, and she could have been dragged under the bus."

Louisa Weeks, director and general manager of the Oxford Bus Company, said: "We are very grateful to Mr Whitmore for bringing the incident to our attention. We can assure him that the incident has been taken extremely seriously and given the highest priority here."

She said the driver had been identified, relieved of his duties and suspended pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.

She added: "The CCTV footage from the vehicle will form a significant part of the disciplinary case against the driver. We expect the highest possible standards from our drivers and our disciplinary system has and will be used rigorously to maintain our standards."

Stagecoach bus drivers have also been issued with the reminder after The Oxford Times reporter Ruth Keeling spotted a Stagecoach driver talking to someone at the front of a number 16 bus in Donnington Bridge Road last week.