Nervous passengers back on the No30 bus

Commuters packed themselves back on board the number 30 bus this morning - a day after it delivered a devastating cargo into the heart of London.

Though some passengers admitted trepidation and others nervously eyed fellow travellers and their luggage, most were simply glad of a means to travel to the city centre and return to some sense of normality.

One of the day's first red double-decker services began its journey at 6.30am at Marble Arch, only yards from Edgware Road station, where police were guarding another scene of an attack.

As a sole passenger boarded close to Oxford Street, the vehicle - bound for Hackney Wick - was quiet, an utter contrast to the mangled wreckage depicted in images of yesterday's bus blast.

Network Rail worker Gary Hoffman, 52, was among the first to embark and said he had little unease about this morning's journey.

"I'm not nervous at all about coming on this particular bus. We have to get into work and it looks as though the situation is under control," he said, sitting by the stairwell on the lower deck.

Upstairs, perched on a seat at the rear of the bus - where yesterday's blast ripped through a similar service - a part-time clearner said he was feeling uneasy.

"I get this bus every single day, but yesterday it was my day off," said Albert, a contract cleaner in the City who said he was too scared to give his surname.

"When I saw what had happened on the news, I just looked and thought - that could have been me."

Gesturing behind him, he give a confused smile and added: "I know I'm sat at the back of the bus and yesterday this would have been ripped off.

"You can't imagine what happened to the people onboard, but we have to get on with things.

"People are all going in to work today - life has to go, doesn't it?"