An elderly couple has been left homeless after a single-decker electric bus crashed into their Notting Hill residence on Thursday evening.
The bus collided with street furniture and two parked cars before mounting the pavement and entering the front of the property at 73 St Quintin Avenue. Images from the scene show extensive damage, with rubble and broken window frames strewn across the ground outside the Edwardian home, which had been divided into three flats.
The 75-year-old resident, who asked not to be named, was out for dinner with her 82-year-old husband at a nearby pub when the incident occurred. She recounted how her husband often sat in an armchair near the window. "I think if we’d have been at home, God forbid, he’d have copped the lot," she stated.
She received a call from her sister informing her that her phone was dead, followed by a call from a neighbor urging her to return home immediately. "When we walked round the corner I couldn’t believe seeing the bus where it was," she said.
The couple has been placed in a hotel more than a mile away, a situation that complicates her hospital appointments following a cancer diagnosis. They are now awaiting temporary accommodation from the housing trust.
The bus was left embedded within the house. St Quintin Avenue is located in an area where average house prices are approximately £1.2 million. The crash destroyed the staircase leading to the front door, shattered the front windows, and pushed them from their frames.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed that officers attended the scene with the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade. They stated that no injuries were reported, no arrests have been made, and no criminal offenses have been identified. Police are asking for anyone with information to call 101, quoting CAD 7570/2 July.
A Transport for London spokesperson confirmed that a route 70 bus was involved in the collision, noting a minor injury that did not require treatment. "The safety of our customers, colleagues and members of the public is of paramount importance, and we are working closely with the bus operator, First Bus, who are investigating this incident," the spokesperson said.
This incident follows a separate event in June where an electric London bus caught fire, destroying the bus and two charging points at a depot in west London. Firefighters extinguished that blaze within an hour, and no injuries were reported.