Bus driver and passenger die as double decker collides with lorry pulling on to busy road
A bus driver and a passenger have died after a double decker smashed into a lorry on a busy Cambridgeshire road.
Twelve other people were injured, five seriously, in the crash on the A47 near Guyhirn yesterday morning.
The bus collided with the lorry as it was pulling out of a yard on to the road, Insp Jamie Langwith said, and footage from the aftermath at the scene showed the bus, which had been travelling eastbound on the road, lodged into the side of the lorry.
The bus driver was from Norfolk and aged in his 50s, while the fatally injured passenger was from Northampton and aged in his 70s, police said.
Injuries sustained by those hurt in the crash at around 7.30am ranged from broken legs to brain injuries, but none of those hurt were in a lifethreatening condition, Insp Langwith said. He added: “What we do know is that they have a coming together where the HGV has pulled out of the yard and the bus has collided into the side of it.” The lorry driver escaped injury. A three-mile stretch of the A47 was closed until 5.30pm yesterday.
Steve Wickers, the managing director at the First Eastern Counties bus company, confirmed a driver based at its King’s Lynn depot had died and said he was “shocked and saddened”.
He said: “Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we will be providing as much support to them as we can through this difficult time.
“We will now be working with the police while they undertake their investigations.”
The crash, involving a Bretts Transport lorry, happened near the firm’s distribution centre at Thorney Road in Guyhirn. A spokesman for Bretts said: “We acknowledge there has been an incident on the A47 this morning involving one of our vehicles just outside our premises. At this stage we are giving the emergency services our full support and cooperation.”
According to its website, Bretts Transport specialises in deliveries to the retail, food service and food manufacturing sectors. Those injured were taken to Peterborough City Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.