A SCHOOL bus crashed into a town hall, sending lumps of masonry from the first floor crashing to the pavement during the rush hour – but miraculously no-one was hurt.

A SCHOOL bus crashed into a town hall, sending lumps of masonry from the first floor crashing to the pavement during the rush hour – but miraculously no-one was hurt.

The double decker school bus was at the top of Market Hill, in Maldon, when it crashed into an overhanging balcony window of the town hall, just before 5pm yesterday .

Big chunks of render and bricks crashed onto the pavement below, near to a zebra crossing.

Between 20 to 30 secondary school children were on the bus and there were staff inside the town hall, but fortunately nobody was hurt. There was also no-one walking along the busy street at that time.

Two ambulances and a paramedic manager were sent to the scene after a number of calls were made to Essex Ambulance Service.

Ambulance senior manager, Steve Wheaton, said: "The top nearside corner of the bus collided with an over hanging balcony window of the council offices. The crash brought lumps of masonry down onto the pavement of the narrow street.

"The bus was carrying between 20 and 30 children of secondary school age. Fortunately none were hurt. The driver, a man, was shaken but uninjured.

"Fortunately no-one inside was hurt, though we did check one female member of staff over as she was quite shaken.

"There is no doubt that everyone has had an incredibly lucky escape. Had anyone been walking along the pavement when it happened they could easily have suffered very serious injuries.

"It is more by luck than anything else that we are not dealing with a major incident with many casualties."

The town hall is the base for Maldon Town Council.