Two pedestrians have been seriously injured when a double-decker bus and a lorry crashed on the Isle of Wight.

The empty bus, which was acting as a shuttle service for the Isle of Wight festival, collided with a lorry and trapped the two men, who were pinned against a wall behind the vehicles in Cowes on Friday.

The 46-year-old pedestrian sustained serious head injuries, and the other man, aged 49, has a severe leg injury. A police spokesman described how neither was in a life-threatening condition, and were taken to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport to be treated for their wounds.

The bus and lorry drivers both escaped unharmed, and a police investigation has been launched. The driver of the bus was working for Go South Coast transport group, drafted in from his work for Wilts and Dorset Buses during a two-day strike on the Go South Coast group.

“A rigorous internal investigation will be carried out in conjunction with police inquiries and our thoughts are with the people who were hurt,” a spokesperson said (BBC News, 2009).