A GP surgery admissions officer left a cyclist bruised after getting involved in a road rage incident.

Furious Daryl Cork lost his temper on the A257 Littlebourne to Bramling road.

And when cyclist Deryck Goodman remonstrated with the aggressive 23-year-old, he was knocked off his bike.

Now a judge has told Cork, of Shotfield Close, Preston, near Wingham, that he came close to going straight to prison for his behaviour.

Judge Adele Williams told him: “Were it not for three facts: that you pleaded guilty early, are of previous good character and have expressed remorse – albeit very late in the day – I would have undoubtedly sent you to prison.”

"You should have known better. This was you using a car as a weapon..." - Judge Adele Williams

Cork, a former Canterbury Christ Church University student who now works at Northgate Medical Practice, had admitted assault, causing criminal damage and driving dangerously.

He was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work for the community and pay his victim £50 compensation.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Cork had driven in “an aggressive and an impatient manner” along the road.

Prosecutor Claire Cooper said Mr Goodman remonstrated with Cork, “at which point he decided to take the law into his own hands”.

She said Cork then drove off in such a way as to knock the cyclist off his bike, leaving him bruised, with a grazed arm and a damaged bike.

Judge Williams, who also ordered Cork to remain at home between 10.30pm and 6am under curfew for the next three months, told him: “You should have known better. This was you using a car as a weapon.

“Let it be noted and appreciated by everyone, that anyone who gets behind a wheel of a car has a potentially lethal weapon at his or her disposal.

“This was wholly unacceptable behaviour because cyclists are vulnerable road users.”

Cork was also ordered to pay £450 court costs and was banned from driving for a year and ordered to retake his test.