Bus crash in Rochdale: Roof shears off and 17 injured

Friday 11th September 2015

A double-decker bus carrying 25 people crashed into a railway bridge in Rochdale, shearing off the roof and leaving 17 people hurt. All passengers managed to get off the vehicle. One man in his 20s suffered a broken jaw and a woman was taken to hospital with serious facial injuries.

The vehicle was approximately half a mile away from its usual route from Manchester to Rochdale. First Manchester have launched a joint investigation with the police into the incident. Network Rail are on site working to resolve the problem at the railway bridge. First Manchester have apologised to their customers for the disruption to the service.

Sophie Wilson at Gordons, says “Given the severity of the health and safety breach, First Manchester will need to conduct a very thorough investigation into what went wrong and why the bus was not on its usual route. Due to the seriousness of the misconduct, I would be surprised if those responsible weren’t summarily dismissed, as 17 people have been injured and it could have been much worse”.

Click here to read the article on the BBC website.