Orpington crash: ‘Horrific’ bus collision that killed one and injured 15 ‘shook ground’, say witnesses

WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A man was killed and 15 other people injured in a horror bus smash that witnesses said “shook the ground”.

Firefighters had to rescue passengers from the wreckage following the crash in Orpington, south-east London, shortly before 10.15pm last night.

Two single-decker buses and a car were involved in the collision on Sevenoaks Road, which left wreckage strewn over a large area. A man was later pronounced dead at the scene. It was unclear whether he had been on board any of the vehicles.

Orpington Bus Crash - In pictures

1/13

Police arrested the driver of the mangled car on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He was being questioned by police in custody.

Residents today told how they ran from their homes to help the wounded after hearing the crash, which left one bus badly damaged.

A 51-year-old builder living close to the scene said: “It sounded like an explosion, the ground shook. I got there and the bus was ripped open and there were bodies everywhere.

The scene of the crash in Sevenoaks Road
Nigel Howard

"I went to see what I could do to help. My neighbour was with the bus driver who looked in a bad way.

“There are always crashes on this road, people come round way too fast, but this one was awful.”

A teenage girl sitting behind the driver suffered a severe head wound, neighbours said. Judi Johnson, 53, said her husband ran out to comfort the victim.

One person was killed in the crash late on Thursday
Nigel Howard

“She had been watching a film on her phone so luckily didn’t see what happened,” she said. “She kept asking him ‘is my head alright?’ and he said yes it’s alright it’s just cut but it was quite bad. There was a lot of blood.”

Witness Mark Jeffries told The Sun the buses had been travelling in opposite directions.

He said: “It was really horrific — the buses collided and then the car drove through the middle of them. One person was thrown through the window on one of the buses and it looked like people on the pavement were hit.”

Fifteen people were injured, three seriously
PA

The London Ambulance Service said 15 patients were taken to hospital and 10 ambulance crews were at the scene.

London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Graham Ellis said six fire engines and 60 firefighters were dispatched. “Firefighters rescued several casualties from the buses and immediately undertook first aid.”

A large cordon remained in place as engineers work to clear the wreckage of one of the buses that mounted the pavement, its front door ripped open.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in