This is the shocking moment a taxi driver makes the decision to mount a pavement full of pedestrians rather than reverse up a road.

The impatient cabbie had tried to skip round queueing buses in Maidstone High Street, which was gridlocked as a result.

But he came a cropper when he realised there were buses queueing in the other direction as well, blocking his exit route.

Passers-by stopped and stared as the taxi stopped fully on the pavement, before waiting for all traffic to pass, and pulling back into line behind the vehicles it had originally tried to overtake.

Taxi driver in near miss with pedestrians