Victoria Bus Station: Driver, 46, released from hospital as police appeal

The driver of a double-decker bus involved in a fatal crash outside London Victoria station has been discharged from hospital, police say.

On Monday morning, a 56-year-old woman died at Victoria's bus station after a Number 13 bus crashed into a shelter at just before 09:00 GMT.

Detectives have not yet named the woman, but said she was from south London.

The Metropolitan Police urged witnesses to the crash to come forward.

The force said the bus driver, a 46-year-old woman, was taken to hospital but has since been discharged.

"Serious collision detectives are carrying out enquiries to establish what happened," the Met added.

There have been no arrests at this stage.

London Fire Brigade said it had sent two fire engines from Lambeth fire station to the scene at Victoria station

Bus operator RATP Dev Transit London and Transport for London (TfL) are both working with police as the investigation continues.

Photos on social media showed the red double-decker bus which had crashed into a passenger shelter at Terminus Place outside London Victoria train station.

London Ambulance Service said a third person was also treated by paramedics but had since been "assessed and discharged".

Speaking on Monday, TfL's chief operating officer Glynn Barton said: "This will have been a deeply distressing incident for everyone involved and we have support available for those affected."

The windscreen of the Number 13 - which runs from North Finchley to Victoria - was smashed on impact

Previously, TfL has set specific targets for safe travel in London - aiming to see no deaths in, or by, a London bus by 2030.

But, Monday's incident is the second fatal collision involving a double-decker bus and a pedestrian at a London bus station in two months.

According to data published by City Hall last Thursday, since January 2014 there have been just over 80 fatal bus collisions.

Six of those have been at bus stations including Euston and Kingston in March 2014; Edmonton Green in 2020 and Walthamstow last December when a 74-year-old woman was hit by a Number 212 double-decker .

In 2021, Melissa Burr was killed at Victoria station after bus driver Olusofa Popoola, 61, accidentally accelerated into the back of a stationary bus, shunting it into her.

Melissa Burr suffered multiple injuries and died following the crash on Terminus Place on the morning of 10 August 2021.

The 32-year-old, from Rainham, Kent, was using a pedestrian walkway at the bus station and crossed towards the door of a 507 bus parked at its stop before she was hit.

Another driver, Diane Mathuranayagum, suffered a fractured eye socket, the Old Bailey heard during Popoola's sentencing for careless driving earlier this month.

In November last year, the bus station at Terminus Place was closed for about six weeks for "essential works to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility".

The works included changing parts of the layout, altering road markings and adding tactile paving.

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