ON Saturday evening, leaving Northallerton on the No.72 bus for Darlington, we noticed groups of cyclists on the road and assumed they must be taking part in some sort of event, as they had numbers on their bikes.

After leaving Brompton going down a lane, we were stopped by a police officer, advising us the road ahead was closed due to an accident and we’d have to turn back.

It was a busy road, but cars had no problem turning, however the bus had to reverse into an opening in the hedge and unbeknown to the driver, there was a hump in the road and the bus got stuck.

The 20 or so passengers got off thinking with less weight he may have got the bus away, but no, it was well and truly stuck. The driver reported what had happened and told us a replacement bus was on its way.

Those noise it made brought a lady out from a house close by, who was marvellous. She guided us to an area of land near her home, so we were away from the traffic and brought out benches, stools, chairs, cups of tea and biscuits.

On behalf of all the passengers we want to say how truly grateful we were to the Nicholls family for their kindness. Apparently this cycle event had not been informed to the police and a cyclist and motorbike were in a collision, one was taken by air ambulance to hospital.

The damaged bus was removed and it was able to take us back to where we could wait for another bus. It all took about an hour.

Joan Weston, Ferryhill