'I would have been decapitated': Terrified bus passenger recounts Sheffield hospital crash

A passenger on a double decker bus which crashed into a Sheffield hospital said she would have been decapitated if she had been sat in her normal seat on the top deck at the time of the collision.
A double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in SheffieldA double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield
A double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield

Nicole Wild, aged 32, was travelling on a double decker which crashed into a overhead canopy at the Northern General Hospital last night after the driver reportedly took a wrong turn though the grounds.

A double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in SheffieldA double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield
A double decker bus crashed in the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield
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He crashed into a canopy outside the main entrance to the Chesterman wing, with the front of the top deck ‘sliced off’ on impact.

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Five passengers suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Ms Wild, a mum-of-three from Ecclesfield, who was sat on the lower deck at the time of the crash, said ‘trapped’ passengers on the top deck were left screaming and in shock after the collision.

She said it was ‘fate’ that she chose against sitting upstairs at the front of the bus where she normally does.

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“I would have been decapitated if I had sat where I normally do at the front of the top deck,” she said.

“I was going to go upstairs as normal but something told me sit downstairs on the one seat that I could see was available.

“It was fate that I made that decision because I would have been dead now. I have three children and it does not bear thinking about.

“I got off the bus in total shock and still can’t stop thinking about it today, about what could have been.”

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She said she was amazed that nobody was seriously inured or killed in the collision.

“Luckily most people were sat towards the middle and back rather than the front, which was the part of the deck which was sliced off. I’m amazed this wasn’t worse than it was, she said”

Miss Wild, a hotel manager who was on her way to work at the time of the collision, said the bus driver was heard saying that he had taken a ‘wrong turn’ through the hospital grounds.

She said hospital staff came to the aid of shocked and injured passengers while police officers carried out enquiries at the scene.

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A Stagecoach South Yorkshire spokesman said: “We are investigating an incident in which a bus operating Service 2 came into contact with a canopy at the Chesterman Wing entrance to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield last night.

“No-one was was reported to be seriously injured. However, safety is our absolute priority and we are working with the police to understand the full circumstances involved.”

The Northern General Hospital is open and operating as normal.