At least 17 people including a bus driver have been injured after a double-decker bus mounted the pavement near London Victoria station.
Emergency services were called to Victoria Street at around 8.20am following reports of a collision involving a number 24 bus travelling towards Hampstead Heath and multiple pedestrians.
The Met Police confirmed two people were treated at the scene, while 15 other pedestrians and passengers were taken to hospital.
The force confirmed no arrests have been made and that no one has been left with life-threatening injuries.
Three maintenance workers who were standing just metres from where the bus crashed have described how they saw passengers covered in blood and people fainting on the floor covered in glass in the aftermath of the collision.
Sam Genders, Dave Shorter, and Mirak Kolodziej told LBC that they heard a “massive explosion” behind them before the area descended into chaos.
Mr Genders told the broadcaster: "The driver was crawling out the front of the bus covered in blood.
"We helped him out and dragged him over to the side. He was screaming, he was saying 'this F-ing bus, this F-ing bus'. And then he was asking if the passengers were OK.”
The worker said he then saw other passengers covered in blood and people fainting on the floor covered in glass.
Mr Kolodziej had been just metres away from the crash and was hit by some of the dirt from the vehicle.
He added: “I just saw the bus driver crying out. I just ran to him, ask him if he was okay and then he just started saying ‘there's something wrong with that bus’. And then he just asked us to check the passengers.
"So we just ran around, opened the door and tried to get people out, everyone who we could. Without the bollards, it would have run over us."
Mr Shorter added: "[It's a] miracle no one was killed. It's not every day a bus smashes three metres away from you and the driver's on the floor."
The windscreen of the bus was shattered as the bus collided with bollards on the pavement, while part of the vehicle’s chassis was peeled away.
A trail of diesel running down Allington Street forced police to ban smoking in the area over fears of a fire.
Emit Suker, 47, described how the bus had been travelling really fast and came off the road. He explained that the vehicle had been travelling from Westminster and that around 15 or 16 people had been inside the bus.
He told the PA news agency: “People were screaming - it was terrible.”
Meanwhile, another eyewitness said: “I heard a massive crash – came outside and there was a woman on the floor with loads of people around her.
“Lots of people from the gym had run out to help her.”
Two pedestrians have been killed in bus crashes near Victoria Station in recent years.
One of the victims was Catherine Finnegan, who was hit by a bus near Victoria station in January 2024.
Following her death, her family described her as a “whirlwind in any room” who “lit up this world with her energy, enthusiasm for life and joy”.
In August 2021, Melissa Burr, 32, from Rainham, Kent, was also killed near Victoria station after bus driver Olusofa Popoola accidentally accelerated into the back of a stationary bus, shunting it into her.
Transport for London was forced to issue a humbling apology to Ms Burr’s family after it wrongly suggested she may have been at fault for her death in a bus crash.
The latest figures from Transport for London (TfL) show there were 69 people killed or seriously injured in collisions involving a London bus between April and June.
Twenty people died in collision with, or on board, a London bus last year, according to TfL
This included 10 pedestrians, two cyclists and eight passengers. This compares with 17 bus-related fatalities in 2023, of which seven were pedestrians, and marks a 17% year-on-year increase.
Transport for London (TfL) has said it is urgently investigating the bus crash near Victoria Station.
Rosie Trew, TfL’s head of bus service delivery, said: “Our thoughts are with the people who have been injured following a bus incident at Victoria Street.
“We are working with the police and the operator, Transport UK, to urgently investigate this incident.
“This must have been a distressing incident for everyone involved and we have support available for anyone affected.”
Issuing an appeal for witnesses, Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, who leads policing in the area, said: “We understand this incident will have been very distressing to all those involved and injured and we have begun an investigation.
“We are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to please contact us. We welcome any dash cam or mobile phone footage.
“We are working closely with our partners to clear the scene but the road will remain closed for the next few hours so please seek alternative routes.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson added: “We were called at 8.20am today (4 September) to reports of a road traffic collision on Victoria Street, Westminster.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, a paramedic in a fast response car, a clinical team manager, an incident response officer, a command support vehicle and paramedics from our hazardous area response team. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.
“We treated 17 people in total. We took 15 patients to hospital and discharged two patients at the scene.”
Anyone with information that could assist police is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 1605/4Sept.
