A semi-pro footballer who knocked an eight-year-old boy off his bike said he "shot out" in front of him, a coroner's court has heard.

Taxi driver Kevin MacLaren, who plays for north London non-league team Hendon, said he slammed the brakes as Ali Nasralla was hit by his side wing mirror in Robin Hood Way in Kingston Vale on March 5.

The Robin Hood Primary School pupil was taken by air ambulance to St George's Hospital but died of brain injuries the next day.

Delivering a verdict of accidental death, coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said the taxi driver would have had "no time to get out of the way of Ali".

The court heard how Mr MacLaren, who in 2009 at the age of 21 became the capital's youngest ever black cab driver, was taking his younger brother, also a pupil at Robin Hood, for football training when Ali rode out in front of him.

He said he was driving around 25mph, below the 30mph speed limit, when the youngster "came out of nowhere".

He told Fulham Coroner's Court today: "I probably hit the brake just as I hit him. I don't think I even had time to see him.

"It seemed like he just came off the pavement. I could not see if he was steady on his bike. He just seemed like all of a sudden he was there. He must have been going really fast."

In a statement read out by the coroner, Ali's nanny Badria Akil said the youngster had been riding his bike, a month old birthday present from his mother Susan.

She said that she was "frightened" to give the bike to Ali to as he was not very experienced, but Ali's mother wanted him to get experience.

She said: "He would not listen to me... he was riding so fast.

"I told him to take it slowly and shouted at him to stop but the distance kept on getting bigger between us."

She said Ali rode straight past the family home on Robin Hood Way up to a nearby mini supermarket.

It was on the way back that he was hit by the black cab.

Ms Akil said: "I shouted to him 'there is a car', a taxi, but he went straight into the road instead of the pavement.

"I didn't see exactly what happened, just Ali lying on the road.

"I screamed at people to take him to hospital. It happened so suddenly and quickly."

Traffic officer Steven Cathrall said, based on police investigation, it was likely Mr MacLaren was driving at 25mph.

He said that Mr MacLaren's vision was "severely impaired" by parked cars on the road and had in fact done "very well" to stop as soon as he did.

Mr MacLaren passed both drink and drug police tests at the scene shortly after the accident.

Verdict: Accidental death