London bus crash witnesses feared terrorist attack
Eyewitnesses feared they were seeing another terrorist attack as the roof of a double-decker bus sheared off on a busy north London road.
The incident happened on Tottenham High Road on 13th February 2006 but instead of an extremist strike, police insisted the damaged roof was the result of a vehicle accident and nothing more sinister. They said the number 349 bus crashed into a low tree, tearing the roof off and narrowly missing a nearby car.
Figem Akgul, 19, saw the vehicle accident unfold and told reporters, "I thought a bomb had gone off when I saw the bus roof coming to the ground. It looked just like the bus that exploded in the City last year. It drove past my shop window and then went up onto the kerb.
"The roof started bending off, folding backwards up into the air, then fell onto the road. I think the tree had sliced through the front of the roof then the rest of it just gave way."
Several people were taken to hospital with minor personal injuries and the driver was treated for shock. A policeman at the scene tried to calm the situation and later said, "There were no serious injuries sustained by anyone on board.
"The roofs on these buses are designed to come off on impact. It looks a lot worse than it was."
*Where replacement vehicle costs can be recovered from the insurance company of the person who caused the accident.
Where this person is untraceable or uninsured, or where there is a dispute over liability, a replacement vehicle cannot
be provided.
