Five people have been injured after a double-decker bus had its roof ripped off on a busy shopping street in central London on Monday, February 2, 2015
Scotland
Yard and Transport for London have both launched investigations into the
"freak incident", which saw the roof of the bus being wrenched off
and left "hanging by a thread" at around 1pm.
Immediately,
pictures of the scene in Kingsway were posted on Twitter. The bus was a number
91, which runs between Crouch End and Trafalgar Square.
At the
scene, London Fire Brigade (LFB) station manager Gary Squires said: "Those
involved are very lucky to have escaped serious injury. This is a very unusual
incident. It is a freak accident."
Mr Squires said a man sitting on the top deck was left with a suspected broken
nose while another passenger was taken to hospital with injuries to the side of
their head. Two of the five people to be injured were taken to hospital.
A LFB
spokesman explained: "You can see that the tree has a big chunk of bark
missing. It looks as if the bus struck the tree and the roof has stayed
embedded in the tree, while the bus carried on going.
“The roof
was still attached to the top of the bus by cables and the weight of roof. If
the bus driver hadn’t stopped, the roof would have been dragged down the road
behind.”
The Fire
Rescue Crew evacuated the area before attaching a strap around the roof of the
bus, and using a winch to lower it down to ground level where they could cut
the remaining cables.
The area
was cordoned off and ten bus routes were put on diversion while emergency services
attended the scene.
Witness
Alex Beattie said: "Saw it happen. Hit a tree and roof peeled right off.
Everyone seemed ok. Police car next to it when it happened."
London
School of Economics student Ethan Meade, who also saw the crash, said: "I
saw the roof fall down off the side of the bus, and the glass shatter
everywhere. The passengers seemed to be sitting there pretty stunned as you'd
expect. Police seemed to handle it very well."
Ida Sehic,
26, who works as a PA in a private equity firm nearby, said: “I was just
popping out for lunch and initially I thought it was a terrorist attack. But
once I got closer it looked quite neat, like the roof had been peeled off with
a can opener.”
A Scotland
Yard spokesman said: "We are investigating the incident. Enquiries are
under way to ascertain the circumstances of the collision."
A London
Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We were called at 1.03pm to reports of a
road traffic collision involving a bus and a tree on Kingsway.
“We treated
two patients for facial injuries; they were taken to St Thomas’ Hospital. We
treated two other patients for minor injuries; they were not taken to hospital.
We treated another patient for a knee injury; this patient was discharged at
the scene.”
Ken
Davidson, TfL’s Head of Bus Operations, said: “At around 1pm today (2 February)
a route 91 bus, operated by Metroline, collided with a tree on Kingsway at the
junction with Portugal Street (WC2).
"Emergency
services attended the scene and there will be a full investigation into this
incident.”
TfL said
that the number 91 bus and its roof had been removed, the road closures had
ended and all buses were running as normal by around 4pm on Monday.