Eight injured when 14'4" bus tries to go under 12'6" bridge

Eight passengers were injured, one of them critically, when driver of the 4A operated by First Bus in Glasgow decided to take his 14'4"-double decker under a 12'6" bridge. Five were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital and three treated and released at the scene.

The BBC quoted on passenger, Spike Turner, as saying the driver took a wrong turn and crased straight into the bridge: "I was fine, the lady in front of me might have been concussed. The bridge itself wasn't high enough to hit anyone's heads but parts of the bus exterior have swung down. The man in the front seat was in a really, really bad state. He's got a lot of blood and a massive gash on his head."

First Bus issued a statement saying "we have launched an immediate investigation and are also assisting Police Scotland with their inquiries."

It is not the first time this bridge has been thusly fed by the bus company. Ten were hospitalized last year when a double-decker rolled into it, with several more receiving injuries that could be treated on the scene. The photo below was posted by Network Rail, obliged to shut down the trains every time it happens until the bridge can be examined for damage.

Photo: Network Rail

"Bridge strikes like this cost taxpayers millions of pounds each year and are entirely preventable," Network rail says on its website. "We urge drivers to always consider the height and size of their vehicles, including any loads they are carrying, and to carefully plan their routes to avoid incidents that put our infrastructure at risk."

Glasgow's Cook Street bridge—see it and its immediate surroundings on Google Street View—may soon be Britain's answer to America's famed "can opener", the Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass, also known as the Gregson Street Guillotine. Despite the amazing number of vehicles it has devoured, it claims only a handful of injuries.