A BUS driver was punched in the face by a road rage motorist who claimed he had been cut up at a roundabout, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard Lee Craig Clarke was nearly forced off the road as he tried to pass the Lancashire United bus as they negotiated the roundabout at the Whitebirk end of Burnley Road, Blackburn, on January 24 this year.

Teresa Feeley, prosecuting, said the bus was being driven from Rishton towards Blackburn and was on a short stretch of dual carriageway leading to a small roundabout at the end of Burnley Road.

She said the driver accepted moving from the nearside lane towards the central reservation to give himself room to negotiate the roundabout.

She told the court he said he was aware of a blue Peugeot in the outside lane and assumed he was turning right to the B&Q store.

"As he turned into Burnley Road, he realised the car had not turned right and was alongside his bus," said Miss Feeley. "He says there was no room for the car."

The bus stopped to pick up passengers shortly after and as the driver was taking fares Clarke stormed on to the bus shouting, 'What do you think you were doing, I've got a kid in my car?' "At this point he pushed the driver's head against the window with his left hand and then hit him very hard in the face with his right hand," said Miss Feeley.

Elliott Taylforth, defending, claimed the bus driver's manoeuvre had been deliberate and described his driving as reckless.

But he said his client accepted that did not excuse the road rage incident that followed.

Clarke, 31, of Dale View, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assaulting Roger Gidley.

The magistrates, who adjourned the case for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, said they considered the incident to be road rage for which they would normally look at an immediate custodial sentence. However, they said they felt able to pull back from imprisonment. Mr Taylforth said anyone who had ever been cut up by a bus would understand his client's anger.

"My client was in the correct lane and the bus driver quite deliberately moved over to block him from carrying on," said Mr Taylforth.

"He was upset that he was being forced off the road and he had to take rapid evasive action to avoid that.

"He was in real fear that harm could have come to his wife and child and, regrettably, in the heat of the moment, he went to reproach the bus driver."

He said Clarke, a printer with Crown Wallcoverings in Darwen, claimed the bus driver made the first move and pushed him away but accepted that his actions after that were wrong.

"He was wrong in his actions but I would say there was considerable provocation, said Mr Taylforth.

"If, like me, you have been cut up on the road you will understand his anger and have some sympathy with him," he added.

Eight assaults have been reported on bus drivers in 12 months in Eastern Division, which covers Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley.