Driver is cut free from crashed bus
Apr 22 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal
RUSH-hour traffic came to a standstill yesterday as a bus collided with a lorry, injuring eight people. The drama unfolded just after 8am on the Newcastle Road dual carriageway in Simonside, South Shields, when the bus, part of the Go North East fleet which had been carrying passengers at the time, crashed through the central reservation.
A witness said: “I walked past the crash on my way to work at about 8.40am and it looked as though the bus had somehow gone round the roundabout and gone down the road the wrong way because it was facing back to front.
“I assumed the lorry had been unable to get out of the way because of the way the vehicles had ended up sandwiched together.”
The witness, a woman from the Simonside area, said two fire crews had been at the scene, close to the Nissan car dealership, along with police and a doctor’s car. “There was no ambulance because I would imagine everybody had already been taken to hospital, but there was oil all over the road and all the bus windows were out.
“It looked as though the bus and the lorry had ground to a halt while travelling side by side.”
A Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman confirmed the bus driver had been trapped in his vehicle and had to be cut free. The other casualties were passengers.
She said: “The incident involved an articulated lorry and a single decker bus which had crossed the central reservation and hit the lorry. The driver was placed on a spinal board and put in an ambulance. Six to eight passengers, all walking wounded, were also conveyed to South Tyneside District Hospital.”
A Northumbria Police spokeswoman added: “There were a small number of passengers on the bus who suffered minor injuries.”
However, the southbound carriageway of the road, towards South Shields town centre, remained closed while investigations were carried out and the debris cleared.
The spokeswoman said: “The road was re-opened at around 12.30pm. Police inquiries in to the cause of the collision are ongoing.”
A spokeswoman for Go North East confirmed it was a vehicle from the company that was involved in the incident. “Unfortunately we have very little information at present other than the fact the driver may be kept in hospital overnight for observation, but we can confirm it was one of our vehicles and a full investigation is under way.”
