Teenager described shock following bus crash in Stanley, County Durham

On Friday (April 21), 17-year-old Nathaniel Baldwin was travelling on a Go North East bus from Durham to Consett when the bus overturned on Stanley’s Lowery Lane, blocking the road for much of the day.

The teenager has been left with pain in his left arm, neck and back after slamming into the side of the bus when it hit the ground, and from another passenger falling into him.

Hearing a scraping noise from the bottom of the vehicle, Nathaniel assumed that the bus had hit a curb, and thought nothing of it – until the bus started to topple over.

Read more: Go North East double decker bus overturns in Stanley, County Durham

He said: “As we were turning a corner, I heard a scraping, and as you do when you’re on the bus, I guessed it had just hit a curb and thought nothing of it.

“But then, the bus really slowly started to tip over, and other people on the bus began screaming. I fell into the side of the bus a someone fell on top of me and passed out.

“I got up and helped him out. The police and ambulances were there quickly, and we were all checked out.

“It was a huge shock for everyone, loads of people got off the bus shaking. I was shaking and there were other people who were crying – my legs were like jelly.”

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Dramatic pictures from the scene show the Go North East bus lying on its side in the foliage, with the windshields of the front and back upper deck smashed out

Gary Edmundson, Go North East Operations Director said: “We've had a vehicle that left the road and due to the camber of the bank it's tipped over on its side.

“The next step now is working with the local police to try and understand what happened and the cause of the accident and retrieve the vehicle.”

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A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We received a call at 12.34 pm this afternoon (Friday 21 April) to reports of a road traffic incident involving an overturned double-decker bus.

“In total, we treated eleven patients, two of whom were taken to the University Hospital of North Durham for further treatment."

Though Nathaniel was not one of the two patients taken by ambulance to the University Hospital of North Durham, he will be seen by medical staff for pain in his left arm and hand, as well as in his back and neck.