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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Elly Blake

Six people taken to hospital after bus crashes into wall in east London

Six people have been admitted to hospital after a 174 bus crashed into a wall in east London on Wednesday afternoon.

The Metropolitan Police said they were called at 1.55pm to reports that a bus had hit a wall on Main Road in Romford.

Officers and London Ambulance Service (LAS) attended and 15 people were treated at the scene.

“We took five of these patients to hospital, and one further patient also made their own way to hospital.

“The remaining nine patients were checked over and discharged at the scene.”

The Met Police said none of the injuries are “thought to be life threatening”.

Gary Jennings, 56, a fire alarm engineer from Dagenham, told the Standard he was working on Main Road when he heard a “really loud” noise “which sounded like a lorry going over speed bumps".

Bus crash in Romford (@linda_reiki / Twitter)

He went outside to have a look and said he saw “loads of dust and bricks everywhere”.

Mr Jennings helped stricken passengers, including a man in his wheelchair, off the bus, which he said had become embedded into the wall it had hit.

“He’d already been thrown off his wheelchair on the bus, so I helped him off and a few others”.

The bus had also knocked down a tree and there were fears someone had become trapped under it.

Mr Jennings said there were schoolchildren and pensioners on the bus, which was “about a third full” at the time of the crash.

“The bus driver was still in his cab, he was awake but there was blood and glass everywhere. There was a guy attending to him at the time.

“There was one lady with a cut lip, I think a lot of people were just shaken up.

“They were walking around like a zombie film, not knowing what had actually happened, they were just in a bit of a shock.”

The Met is asking anyone who witnessed the incident and not yet spoken with police to come forward.

Tom Cunnington, Transport for London’s head of Bus Business Development, said: “Our thoughts are with those who were involved when a 174 bus collided with a garden wall in Romford.

“It must have been a deeply distressing incident. We have support available to anyone affected by this incident and a full investigation is underway.”

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