A single-decker Go North East bus crashed into a woman's front garden in Stanley, County Durham, on Sunday morning, leaving the driver injured. The vehicle smashed through a garden wall, brought down trees, and destroyed a children's football goal.
Collision Details
Claire Read, 41, who lives on Hilltop in Stanley with her husband Peter and sons Charlie, 13, and Freddie, nine, heard a loud bang around 9:30 am on July 19. Initially thinking it was thunder, she soon realized a bus had veered off Chester Road East and entered her property. The bus had come through traffic lights, hit a traffic island, and crashed into the garden.
Durham Constabulary reported that the driver was injured in the incident. It is understood that the driver may have had a medical episode at the wheel. Emergency services, including ambulance and fire crews, attended the scene. The bus was later recovered, and the council was contacted due to debris on the road.
Witness Account
Claire Read, a welfare adviser, described the event: “I was just getting up because we were going out and I heard a bang, I thought it was thunder at first. When it hit the tree behind the house, it made a horrendous noise and we heard people shouting. Then we just saw a bus on the drive. It was genuinely awful, the whole windscreen had come through. I had no shoes on and my husband had to bring them out because of the glass. It was very obvious that the driver had a medical event.”
Police Statement
A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision involving a bus on the A693, Stanley, just before 9.30am yesterday morning (July 19). Emergency services including ambulance and the fire service attended after the bus left the road and collided with some railings. The driver was injured. The bus was recovered and the council contacted due to debris on the road.”
