Five people have been injured after a doubledecker tourist bus had its roof ripped off when it crashed into a tree in central London.
The bus was driving through Woburn Place in Bloomsbury, near Russell Square, when it hit an overhanging branch on Monday at about 1.10pm.
Tourists from Canada told the Press Association that a bride from the wedding they had attended a few days earlier was among the injured.
Pictures on social media show the blue Golden Tours bus, whose upper deck is open-topped at the rear, with the roof of its front section torn clean off and firefighters helping passengers down from the crowded top deck.
Bus crash on Russell Square. Hit a tree roof came off pic.twitter.com/pewMsS8LL2
— Chromrisan (@chromanris) August 3, 2015
Imagine being on a London tour bus & the driver hits a tree and the whole roof comes off 🙈 #ManDown #RussellSquare pic.twitter.com/aLd1FCsMhQ
— Christian Smith (@SmithChristian4) August 3, 2015
Bit of a scarey drama outside the office. . Bus has had it's roof stripped off. pic.twitter.com/6bnp3Txw67
— Ant (@iglooant) August 3, 2015
Major road incident on Woburn Place, near tavistock hotel, road closed temporarily #russellsquare #london pic.twitter.com/fD2Lhx6ABa
— technoPHILe (@Phil_Ced) August 3, 2015
Canadian tourist Joseph Whelan, who was on the bus with his wife and two children in a group of people who had recently attended a wedding, said the bride was among those hurt. He described the scene as “total chaos”.
Laurence Hopkins from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association said: “I heard the noise through my headphones and it sounded like a bomb. Glass from the two windows at the front came away and some debris flew past from the bus. It seemed to be a tree branch that ripped the roof clean off, which was amazing to me.”
Hopkins said he went over with four or five other bystanders to see if he could help. He said: “The bus seemed relatively busy but no one seemed seriously injured. Some were crying, but they seemed to just be in shock.
“Most just looked really confused, like they couldn’t understand how it happened. Police arrived within about two minutes, they were there extremely quickly.”
London fire brigade, which sent two engines and 15 firefighters to the scene, said: “The impact removed the roof of the bus. Five people have been taken to hospital by London ambulance service. About 40 other passengers, who are believed to be uninjured, are being looked after by police and ambulance staff in a nearby building.”
The Metropolitan police said the bus was not operated by Transport for London and those taken to hospital were not suffering from life-threatening injuries.
Andy Bassom, transport manager at Golden Tours, said an investigation was under way into how the accident happened, which would include looking at the on-board CCTV. The operator has 40 buses taking tours around London, he said.
