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A "brave" Leicestershire pensioner has been praised by police after he grabbed the wheel of a bus and steered it to safety after the driver passed out.

Alfred Throop, 67, was on an Arriva bus in Hastings Road, Leicester, on Thursday when the bus driver collapsed. He grabbed the wheel and steered it to the side of the road.

Leicestershire police confirmed a driver was "taken ill at the wheel" and that they believed Mr Throop gained control of the bus. A spokeswoman said: "Mr Throop's brave actions prevented the bus from causing further damage and serious injury to members of the public."

Mr Throop said: "I noticed the bus going from side to side on the road and thought 'there's something wrong here'. I got up to go to the front of the bus and that's when I noticed the driver was not himself. He looked like he'd blacked out or had a fit.

"I panicked as I couldn't find the brake and I saw cars coming down the road and cars parked on the side of the road. We could easily have hit somebody," Mr Throop said.

Mr Throop, who has not driven for 12 years since his last car was stolen, said: "It was very scary. Like a scene out of a James Bond film is how it's been described."

He said he was a bit shaken after the incident but had not suffered any injuries.

Sounds like Anglo Saxon, and will share its origin with Thorp, Thorpe, Thrupp and the like. "Thorp" is old English for "village".

But whatever the origins of the name, it's a good thing Mr Throop was on the spot when the situation demanded. Well done, Sir!

Thorpe is a surname derived from the Middle English word thorp, meaning hamlet or small village. Thorpe is found as the name of many places in England.