Double-decker bus carrying 56 teenage college students crashes and overturns in field
Alex Horlock
15th October 2012
The First Group bus, registered to Plymouth in Devon, was heading to Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester. The driver lost control of the bus which careered off the 50mph road, ploughed through a hedge and rolled down an embankment before landing on its side. The passengers, all aged between 16 and 18, were flung from their seats as the vehicle overturned.
Passing motorists pulled over and helped some of the shocked students out of the wreckage. A fleet of ambulances and fire crews rushed to the scene and the six casualties were treated at the scene. Most of them boarded a replacement bus which took them on to the college.
Inspector Neil Leat, of Dorset Police, said: 'At about 8.15am the double-decker coach overturned and landed in the field, the cause of which is part of an ongoing investigation. Six people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening or non-life changing injuries and were part of a group that were treated at the scene by paramedics. It's incredible that the majority of these young people appear to be fine after what has happened.'
Student Jade Elizabeth said: 'I can’t tell you how scared I was. It was terrifying. As the bus was tipping I thought it was a dream, but when I got to the ground all covered in glass, I thought, that’s it I’m going to die.'
Georgie Davis, 18, an agriculture student from Poole, was at the back of the bus and described it as the worst moment of her life when it suddenly flipped. 'We went flying - people were going everywhere. We were hanging on for dear life. It was absolutely awful. As it turned I went to stand up and a women came flying past me and elbowed me in the ribs. There was a girl with learning disabilities next to me and she was scared out of her wits. I ended up standing on the window with a bush underneath and it started to give way so I grabbed hold of the metal and was holding on for dear life.'
She said she saw a passenger with cuts to his hand, another woman was treated by the air ambulance after suffering a panic attack. 'It could have been so much worse. I don't want to think about how much worse it could have been.'
