A BLIND man has hailed his heroic guide dog for saving his life after she pulled him out of the path of an oncoming bus.

But the town’s main bus firm said it cannot look into Stuart Pearce’s claims because he cannot tell them which bus it was, due to his visual impairment.

The 45-year-old former lorry driver claims he stepped out into the road in West Street, Reading, when a bus skipped a red light and came towards him.

He said he felt the breeze of the vehicle brush past him and feared for his life.

Thankfully, his two-year-old Labrador/Retriever cross was alert to the danger and pulled him back towards the pavement on October 16.

Speaking from his home in Tilehurst, Reading, Mr Pearce said: “She saved my life that day. There are no two ways about it.

“You haven’t got a hope in hell getting across that road sometimes. I just hope that someone is going to slow down.

“That’s our safe crossing now since they turned off the traffic lights at the junction.

“There is a cone that spins when you are able to cross, I felt it spinning so I thought it was clear.

“The bus has come out of Friar Street and literally gone straight in front of me. Olivia pulled me out of the way.”

Mr Pearce contacted Reading Buses to discuss the incident which he believes nearly cost him his life.

However, emails seen by the Chronicle show the firm have struggled to find evidence because he cannot give them exact details of the bus. Reading Buses also said another bus operator could be responsible.

One email reads: “I am trying my best to locate the bus. Unfortunately this is very difficult due to the amount of buses that pass along this road including other bus operators Arriva, Courtney Buses and even private higher coaches.”

Mr Pearce, who has only recently lost his sight, said he wants to educate bus drivers in Reading about how to deal with the blind.

He admitted he no longer feels safe walking through Reading and would rather take the train to Basingstoke, Hampshire, to do his shopping.

“As angry as I was, I never wanted to get anyone in trouble,” added Mr Pearce.

“As a blind person, I want to make the streets of Reading a bit safer for us all.

“I’m not the first, I know other people who have almost been hit. All I want to do is to tell them (bus drivers) where they are going wrong and educate them.

“I want to use Reading town centre without being scared to walk around.”

Reading Buses has launched an investigation into the incident.

A spokesman said staff will look through CCTV of the day of the incident and contact Mr Pearce in due course.

They added: “Due to Mr Pearce’s visual impairment, it is very difficult to pinpoint when the incident happened as he is obviously unable to provide a bus colour, route number or fleet number so we are currently reviewing CCTV from a number of different buses that were in the area at the time to ensure that we can investigate correctly.

"At this stage it is not known whether it was one of our buses or not as there a numerous other vehicles that use that junction, but we have already apologised to Mr Pearce in advance of any findings as we can certainly understand that this would have been a very traumatic experience for him.”