A “sprightly” grandfather hit by a double-decker bus in front of afternoon shoppers is recovering in hospital from extensive head injuries.

Cycling paramedics started treating 70-year-old Jack Maunders within two minutes of the accident in Eden Street, Kingston.

Witnesses said the Thames Ditton resident was conscious and talking to paramedics before he was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting.

Doctors could not yet assess whether the freemason and round table member, who has three grandsons and three granddaughters, would need surgery.

Michelle Clements, one of his three daughters, said the swelling on his face had gone down, but he still could not open his eyes two days after the collision on January 31.

She said: “It is a slow process, but he has still got his sense of humour.

“He does not know what happened, but he is not in the habit of stepping in front of vehicles.

“He has not got a clue [how it happened]. He was not on the phone or talking to anybody. It is a mystery. Until we can see a report we don’t know.”

She and her sisters Sharon Maunders and Jacqui Nicholson paid tribute to the para-medics who treated him at the scene, and passersby who also helped.

Police closed the busy town centre road during the rush hour to take photographs and measurements.

A Kingston police spokes-man said: “All the reports will be reviewed by the traffic unit, and then a decision will be made on whether anybody will be charged.”

A London Ambulance Spokesman had previously incorrectly said the victim was in his 20s.

A spokesman for Go-Ahead London, which operates the bus, said: “We can confirm the incident did occur whereby an elderly gentleman was hit by one of our route 213 buses. We are currently helping the investigating authorities with their enquiries.”