Bus has roof torn off in Hampshire railway bridge crash
- Published
The bus was out of service when the crash happened
The roof of a double-decker bus was ripped off when the bus got stuck under a railway bridge in Hampshire.
The out-of-service bus hit the railway bridge in Station Road in Portchester at about 09:40 GMT. Fire crews said the bus and its roof were left on opposite sides of the bridge.
The bus driver, a 45-year-old man, was treated at the scene for shock.
Another bus run by operator First Group was involved in a similar crash at the same spot almost five months ago.
Police and about 15 firefighters were called to the scene.
A crane is to be used to remove the top of the bus from the bridge, where it had become stuck.
'Severe shock'
Paul Coates, Fareham station manager, said: "The top of the double-decker bus stayed there and the rest of it went through.
"We closed the road and made the scene safe, and gave first aid to the driver until the ambulance arrived.
"We gave him oxygen because he was quite in shock when we arrived."
The driver, a 45-year-old man, was treated for shock
A spokeswoman for Hampshire Constabulary said: "Nobody was on the bus but the driver - it was out of service at the time.
"The driver was in severe shock and was treated by ambulance crews at the scene."
Experts from Network Rail were called to assess the scene and the road was shut for about three hours.
Operator First Group said it was investigating the incident.
A spokeswoman said: "We are as concerned by this incident as we suspect other local people will be.
"The exact cause of it is being investigated and the appropriate action will be taken as a result. It is too early to speculate as to what the outcome of the investigation will be."
"In relation to the previous incident, the cause of that was determined to be human error and the appropriate action was taken as a result."
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "When road vehicles strike railway bridges, it can cause damage, delay and cost to the railway.
"Thankfully, owing to sturdy engineering by the Victorians, rarely is the damage significant but we have to send an engineer to site to inspect and often we have to delay or even stop trains until this has been done."