A parish councillor was caught on camera ‘giving the finger’ to some cyclists he forced off a country road into a hedge.

Two of the cyclists were injured in the incident in the Teign Valley in Devon one Sunday last July which led to 40-year-old councillor James Atkinson admitting careless driving at Christow, Devon, in his Land Rover on the B3193.

He was fined £140 by Exeter magistrates court who also gave him eight penalty points on his driving licence.

Prosecutor Lyndsey Baker said the four cyclists were riding in single file at 25mph when Atkinson roared up behind them and tried to overtake on a blind bend.

A car was coming the other way at 20mph and Atkinson veered into the cyclists and they ended up in a hedge and ‘a jumble on the floor’, she said.

Atkinson, of Bridford, Devon, showed no remorse and in a police interview he tried to blame the riders for being four abreast which had forced him to the other side of the road.

One of the cyclists described his punishment as ‘a slap on the wrist’ and no compensation was ordered as the bench said insurers would sort that out.

Hair salon boss Rob Peirce, from Torquay, shot the headcam reaction of Atkinson following the incident.

Mr Peirce, 48, said: ‘We were riding single file along that road which is one of the few flat roads we can use. We ride 200 miles a week and we are experienced riders.

‘One of the injured riders was a stranger who suffered a head injury. An ambulance was called for him.

‘My friend Jason Acreman was also hurt. He hasn’t been cycling since because of the emotional effect it has had on him.

‘Atkinson’s driving was the most aggressive extreme driving we have ever encountered.

‘In my opinion he is going to kill or seriously injure someone. His attitude was outrageous.

‘I am not surprised he has received a slap on the wrist. But he should have been banned – you get a stiffer penalty if you break the speed limit on the motorway than nearly killing two people on their bikes.’

Mr Acreman, 35, from Torquay, suffered hip, back and shoulder injuries and said: ‘I heard this beeping from a car and then heard screeching and skidding.

‘I was riding by a hedge and had nowhere to go and was left upside down and hanging out of a tree. I was quite lucky really.’

Mr Peirce said: ‘We tried to speak to the driver about what had happened and he gave me his middle finger. I was giving him a piece of my mind that he could have killed people – women and children use this road – and he looked me in the eye and kept swearing at me. A lady driving the other way stopped and confronted him. She rang the police.

‘We were cycling back from Tiverton along the Teign Valley. It was a nice sunny day. Atkinson began hooting along the straight road, it was not the twisty bit.

‘He was aggressively revving his engine and beeping his horn and overtook us on a blind corner and took two of the cyclists out. James is a keen cyclist but has not been out since which is a real shame. One of them was impaled on a hedge fence and the other was left lying in a gutter. The driver did not show a jot of concern.

‘The lady driver went ballistic at him but he sat in his Land Rover with a smug look on his face. It was unbelievable – and then he drove off.’