A bus has smashed into a shop on a busy street in Manchester, with shocked witnesses reporting multiple people being taken away on stretchers.

Onlookers have described the scary scenes which unfolded in Piccadilly Gardens this afternoon as one man working in the Turkish bakery next door heard the comotion.

He told the Manchester Evening News: “I was working at the till and just heard a big noise. I went outside and the bus had crashed into T4, the bubble tea shop next door.

“I think there were a few people injured, people outside the shop, pedestrians.“I think the people inside T4 are OK. I’ve seen three or four people on stretchers.”

Greater Manchester Police said: “At around 1pm today (Monday 16 October) police were called to reports of a collision involving a bus and a shop in Piccadilly Gardens.

“Police alongside colleagues in the Northwest Ambulance Service and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue have been in attendance.

“There are road closures in the area whilst emergency services remain at the scene dealing with the collision and officers from GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit are in attendance.

“We would ask members of the public to avoid the area where possible whilst officers establish the full circumstances.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “At 1:15pm today, two fire engines from Manchester Central and Salford fire stations as well as the technical response unit from Ashton fire station were called to an incident on Parker Street.“Crews remain in attendance.”

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