Fire crews cut driver from wreck after MacGregor crash

A witness has described shocking scenes as a Brisbane City Council bus slammed into a concrete barrier at a major intersection in the city’s south on Sunday night.

A witness has described shocking scenes as a Brisbane City Council bus slammed into a concrete barrier at a major intersection in the city’s south on Sunday night.

The impact at the intersection of Kessels and Mains roads at MacGregor left the bus driver fighting for life and needing to be cut from the wreckage.

The incident occurred about 8pm.

A bus driver has been seriously injured.

The driver was trapped for more than 30 minutes and needed to be cut free by firefighters.

The driver was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital and seven of the 12 passengers were treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

Ashok Prasad first heard the bus mount kerb before it slammed head-on into the carrier.

“It was the worst I’ve ever seen,” Mr Presad told 7 News on Monday night.

“That big loud bang, I have never heard anything like that before.”

“It hit hard and the front, it just crammed up.”

He raced to the wreckage, smashing the emergency window and helping passengers to climb out of the vehicle.

“I climbed inside myself to open up the exit door,” he said.

Mr Presad said the driver was not moving as rescuers attempted to open the main doors.

“One gentleman (was) very badly hurt, he had blood flowing down his forehead.”

Brisbane City Council Transport chairman Cr Ryan Murphy said the driver was in a stable condition after surgery on Monday.

“I want to thank on behalf of the city and transport for Brisbane incredible work on the first responders who were on site within just minutes of that accident occurring and they were able to remove the driver from the vehicle and get him to the PA hospital extremely quickly.”

“Without that quick intervention he may have lost his life.”

“We will continue to work with the Queensland Police Service to understand all of the issues that relate to this incident how it occurred and what we can do to prevent such an incident in the future,” Cr Murphy said.

Cr Murphy said they had not yet reviewed CCTV from the bus.

Asked whether he thought the age of the driver may have played a part, Cr Murphy addressed recent incidents with drivers all aged in their 70s.

“Well, we follow all of the Department of Transport and Main Roads guidelines when it comes to the age of the drivers and their ability to operate on the network.”

“They undergo regular medical testing and driver authorisations, approvals. These are all things that we do under the law provided to us by the state,” he said.

“We now have three incidents in recent times. I note that Tom Brown from the RTBU said there appears to be nothing that correlates these three incidents but investigations are ongoing on all three of those incidents,” he said

The cause of the crash is under investigation.