Three people hospitalised after car ‘swerved’ into lamp post which slammed into bus
Three people have been taken to hospital after the driver of a car allegedly mounted a pavement and “swerved” into a lamp post, which then fell into a parked bus cracking its windscreen.
Onlookers were shocked to see the “unusual” sequence of events that brought traffic to a standstill in New Cross Road, New Cross, at around 11.40am today.
The London Ambulance Service confirmed they treated four people at the scene and took three of them to hospital, while the Met said the injuries had been assessed as “non life-threatening”.
The crash took place directly outside the New Cross bus garage, with bus drivers outside discussing what had happened. They reported the driver of the bus and passengers were not harmed, though this has not been confirmed.
One bus driver at the scene who did not want to be named said he was pulling out of the bus garage when he heard a “horrendous noise”, as the Zipcar car drove along the pavement then smashed into the lamp post. Zipcars are typically used as hire cars.
“I heard the crash,” the driver said. “It was quite a big noise. The car went on the pavement then sounded like it swerved into the lamp post. The lamp post fell and hit the bus that was parked there.
“The guy driving the car was lying on the pavement for some time.”
A spokeswoman from the London Ambulance Service said: “We were called today, July 19, at 11.40am to reports of a road traffic collision on New Cross Road, SE14.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including four ambulance crews, an incident response officer, and two medics in fast-response cars.
“We treated four people at the scene and took three of them to hospital.”
It is the second incident involving a car and a bus on the same stretch of road in the space of two months, as drivers recalled a car crashing into a number 36 bus in May in almost exactly the same place as today’s collision.
Traffic built up along the road after the crash and at around 3.20pm another collision took place metres away from the wrecked bus, as a car drove into the back of another car.
The #A2 New Cross Rd is part blocked by a crash between Queens Rd and New Cross Gate Station – it’s queueing each way pic.twitter.com/7nvvBICbM2
— BBC Radio London Travel (@BBCTravelAlert) July 19, 2023
A spokeswoman for The Met said: “Police were called to New Cross Road, SE14, at 11.40am on Wednesday, July 19 to reports of a road traffic collision.
“Officers attended and found a car had been involved in a collision with a lamppost, which had then fallen onto a bus.
“Three people were injured but their condition has been assessed as non life-threatening.”
Pictured top: The aftermath of the collision in New Cross Road (Picture: James Twomey)