Railway Bridge Bus Crash

The caption under this photograph published in the Northampton Mercury & Herald reads: "The damaged bus owned by Messrs. Timson and Son, of Burton Latimer"

PASSENGERS INJURED IN BUS SMASH - VEHICLES COLLIDE IN FOG - SERIOUS DAMAGE

Several passengers were injured when two crowded buses collided in thick fog near Burton Latimer yesterday morning. One of the buses - a double-decker - was saved from plunging 10 feet over the embankment of a railway bridge by a telegraph pole, which was snapped at the base by the impact.

The buses were a double-decker United Counties bus, driven by John Robert Mills, of 7, Ashfield Road, Wellingborough, and a single-decker bus, owned by Messrs. Timson and Son, Burton Latimer, driven by Stan Clarke, of Loddington, and fully laden with workpeople. Passengers in the smaller bus, sitting on the offside, were literally covered by flying fragments of glass. The most severely injured were: Frederick Crick, 364, Regent-street, Kettering, injury to shoulder. Charles Patrick Grainger, 2, Wilson-terrace, Kettering, badly cut leg. Arthur Edward Richards, 1, Spring-gardens, Kettering, cuts. John Coton, 28, Oakley-street, Kettering, cuts and Alfred Hearn, 6, Melton-street, Kettering, cuts.

DRIVER INJURED

Mills, the driver of the United Counties bus, was cut about the face, necessitating stiches, but Stan Clarke, of Loddington, the driver of the other vehicle, was unhurt.
Other passengers sustained minor cuts, one of them being a Finedon woman cripple on crutches. The smaller bus was badly damaged.
Dr. Kingsley and P.C. Frost, of Burton Latimer, rendered first aid.

The buses came from Kettering and Wellingborough respectively. The vehicles collided about 100 yards on the Burton Latimer side of the railway bridge over the Kettering-Cambridge L.M.S. line, and about a mile from Burton Latimer. There was a thick patch of fog at this point and the drivers of both buses were not only inconvenienced by this, but by the hump of the road over the bridge.

SIDE RIPPED AWAY

There was a terrific impact. The crash of breaking glass mingled with the shouts of the passengers, most of whom were men. The United Counties bus cannoned into a telegraph pole, snapping it at its base. On the other side of the fence is a drop of 10 feet, over the embankment of the bridge.

The off corner of Messrs. Timson's bus and about half a dozen feet of the side were completely ripped away, leaving a great gap from the top to the bottom of the vehicle. The front windscreen and several of the side windows were smashed almost to splinters.
The United Counties bus escaped with a smashed windscreen and broken front axle. Several passengers received minor injuries. The telegraph pole had to be bound up with rope at the base to prevent it falling on the road. The bus axle was strapped up to enable the vehicle to proceed to the garage at Irthlingborough under its own power.

Mr. Alfred Loak, of 70, Station-road, Burton Latimer, told a 'Mercury & Herald' reporter: "I was on the top of the United Counties bus, and was sitting at the front. There was a thick fog, and I could not see more than about 16 yards in front of me. All of a sudden there was a thump and a terrific smashing of glass. I was thrown on the floor of the bus. Glass was flying about and I received a cut.

Messrs. Timson's wrecked bus was removed by a break-down gang. None of the injured people were taken to hospital.