No. 3 Bus accident

Evening Standard

03/12/02 - News and city section

Bus roof sliced off

Ten people are in hospital after double decker bus had its roof sliced off by a tree in central London during this morning's rush hour.

The passengers, all adults, were on the bus as it travelled towards the Houses of Parliament from Lambeth Bridge shortly before 9am. At least one had to be taken off the top deck on a stretcher.

Two people were feared to have serious head injuries while the others had more minor injuries, an ambulance service spokeswoman said.

An elderly man is seriously hurt, having suffered head, neck, shoulder and chest injuries.

Mark Coote, 18, a scaffolder from Croydon, south London, was working nearby when the accident happened.

He said: "I heard a big bang and turned around. The roof had come straight off the bus. There was a lot of shouting and screaming. I went over to the bus and there were a lot of people coming off. I noticed that upstairs there was a man trapped under the roof at the back."

Mr Coote went on: "With a colleague and two other members of the public, I ran up the bus and together we lifted the section of the roof that was propped up at the back end of the bus.

"This man had a nasty, nasty cut on the top of his head - the skin off his head was hanging off and there was loads of blood."

He was conscious and we were talking to him. I gave him a T-shirt to soak up the blood. We stayed there until the emergency services had arrived and took over."

Four ambulances were sent to the scene and the ten injured passengers were all taken to nearby St Thomas's Hospital.

A bus - a Number 3 operated by the Connex transport and running from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus - is a modern low-floor double-decker. It had passed through Brixton, Kennington and Lambeth Palace before crossing the River Thames.

The accident resulted in a lengthy portion of Millbank being cordoned off by the emergency services.

A Connex spokeswoman said today: "There is an overhanging tree on the route and this was a known problem. Buses have to swing out to avoid the tree but clearly something went wrong this time."

A spokesman for London Buses said: "We are co-operating with the police in the investigation into this accident."

It is not yet clear how the impact with the trunk of the tree managed to slice off the bus's roof.

But Steve Bonsor, an assistant divisional officer with London Fire Brigade, said that the roof would have been one of the weaker parts of the vehicle. He said: "The roof structure is supported only by thin uprights."

A police spokesman added that the bus did not appear to have been travelling particularly fast.

It had hit the main body of the tree rather than an overhanging branch. The police spokesman said: "The top has literally sliced off."

The spokesman said the bus driver among those taken to hospital - he is said to be shocked.

Traffic accident investigators are looking into how the accident happened.

Find this story at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/2301627?version=1
©2002 Associated New Media

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