Trapped passengers rescued after double-decker bus smashes into shop near Clapham Junction

Two passengers who were trapped on the top deck of a bus that crashed into a shop on a busy London high street have been rescued and the the driver of the vehicle taken to hospital.

Police were called just before 7am to reports of a bus hitting a building in Lavender Hill, near Clapham Junction railway station in south-west London.

Nurse Amy Mullineux, 40, of Wandsworth Common, was on the bus and said the driver told her he had lost consciousness before the crash.

“I spoke to him. He said he blacked out before the bus hit the shop.

“He doesn’t remember hitting anything.

“The paramedic told me they think he had some kind of fit.”

A Transport for London spokeswoman said a route 77 double-decker travelling towards Waterloo was involved in the incident.

Police said there were no life-threatening or life-changing injuries and nine people were being assessed for ‘minor injuries’.

Photos on social media show the vehicle on the pavement and smashed into the front of the Poggen Pohl Kitchen Design Centre.

Glass lay shattered across the ground and paramedics could be seen tending to people on the top deck.

Firefighters with cutting gear freed trapped passengers from the top of the bus.

Local resident Brendan Pfahlert said the smash “sounded like a large amount of glass being dropped”.

Andrew Matthews, 34, of Wandsworth Town, said he was one of around a dozen passengers on the bus.

He said: “I was on the top floor at the back, fortunately.

“I noticed the bus drifting. I heard a smash and saw the roof of the shop going through (the bus) from the front left. It went to the fourth or fifth row.

“I wedged myself in, bracing myself.

“As soon as the bus came to a stop there was yelling, screaming.

“I noticed a lady wedged in the front right-hand side. She was screaming for help. There was a lot of blood.”