Cycling actor hurt in `road-rage' fracas

Martin Shaw, the actor, is considering taking legal action against a bus driver he claims assaulted him in a road-rage style attack.

Shaw, 51, who played Doyle in The Professionals, claims he was almost killed when the driver launched an unprovoked attack on him. He has a three-inch gash under his chin and bruised ribs.

Shaw was cycling to a matinee performance of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband at the Haymarket Theatre in London's West End when he became involved in a feud with the driver of the number 52 bus near Hyde Park Corner.

"The bus seemed to come straight at me then the driver threw his lunch box at me through the window. I have no idea what sparked it off. He leapt out of his cab and came at me with fists and feet ... it was definitely what you call road rage.," said Shaw.

His agent, Ann Hutton, admits he called the driver an abusive name during the incident.

"He is resting at the moment because his torso is swollen with bruises," she said. "We are considering prosecuting, he has been bashed up quite badly."