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 collision with the vehicle 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, Tooting.

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 collision on Tuesday, January 31.

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

She said: “It’s 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. He was not on the phone or walking to anybody. It’s a complete mystery. Until we can see a report we don’t know.”

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

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