THE inspector in charge of the collision which has left three children needing hospital said "it was lucky" that no fatalies a school bus collided with a railway bridge.

Three youngsters have been taken to hospital with serious injuries while 12 others suffered minor injuries, two of which have since been taken to hospital however their injuries are still being treated as minor, after the school bus they were travelling in crashed into a railway bridge.

The collision caused “significant damage” to the top of the double-decker bus in the crash in Wellhouse Lane, Winchester, Hampshire, at 8.10am on Thursday.

Speaking at the scene Incident Commander Inspector Andy Tester from the Road Policing Unit said: “We have a bus that was picking up children from surrounding villages and taking them to Henry Beaufort School in Winchester. During that journey the bus has collided with the bridge parapet with a number of pupils onboard, some of whom were injured.

“There were 57 pupils uninjured, 12 had minor injuries – cuts and bruises and minor injuries – and three had more serious injuries but none of those are life threatening or life changing.

“The driver of the bus came with us voluntarily and has answered questions voluntarily about what has happened and has given us an account.

“There are various systems in the bus that will tell us how fast the bus was going, we believe there was CCTV in the bus that will give us vital information about what happened in the immediate moments before this crash.

“It does show that there must have been quite a significant impact between the bus and the bridge parapet and that has completely removed the roof front to back and that does take a degree of force.

Inspector Tester said that it “was lucky” that there were no fatalities in the incident.

He added: “For all the emergency services from ambulance and police that turned up initially it was a very difficult scene.”

A Hampshire police spokesperson added: "We were called at 8.10am today, 10 September, to reports of a serious collision on Wellhouse Lane, Winchester, after a school bus collided with a railway bridge causing significant damage to the top of the bus.

"All the students involved are aged between 11 and 16.

"A road closure is in place on Well House Lane from the junction with Andover Road North to School Lane to enable us to deal with this incident. We thank you for your patience.

"We are working in cooperation with the school and Hampshire County Council children’s services to provide support to the students and their parents."