Investigation after bus strikes Southwick railway bridge in early hours

Pictures shared on The New Shoreham by Sea Group on Facebook showed what appeared to be the roof of the double decker bus underneath the railway bridge.

A spokesman for Govia Thameslink Railway said: “Reports came in of an empty bus hitting Kingston Lane railway bridge in Southwick at 3.37am.

“We don’t run passenger trains at that time of night but, as a precaution, Network Rail imposed a speed restriction for around half an hour until an engineer had checked the bridge over.”

The Brighton & Hove bus was not in service and nobody was hurt, a spokesman for Brighton & Hove Buses also confirmed.

They added that the incident was now being thoroughly investigated.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “On Tuesday, April 20, at 3.15am, police responded to a report of a collision involving a bus and a railway bridge in Kingston Lane, Southwick, where the detached roof of the bus was blocking the road.

“Officers attended, alongside Network Rail and Highways. The road remained closed until 6.50am while the debris was cleared. No injuries were reported.”