Passenger thanks helpers

A woman has thanked the people who came to help when a bus erupted in a ball of flames in an Oxfordshire village.

The 800 (High Wycombe – Reading) Arriva service was travelling through Binfield Heath at about 17 00 (5 p.m.) yesterday afternoon when a passing motorist flagged it down when he saw black smoke coming out of the engine.

Passers-by and residents came to assist as the fire spread from the single-decker to overhead cables.

Passenger Grace Evans said the man who flagged the bus down had ‘probably saved 30 lives — myself and baby included’.