'The biggest bang

Witnesses describe their horror as buses collide on busy road

- CHRIS SLATER, KIT ROBERTS

A HORRIFIED couple described being woken by 'the biggest bang they'd ever ever heard' as one of Manchester's busiest roads descended into chaos yesterday morning.

An air ambulance landed and emergency services were scrambled to Rochdale Road, on the edge of the city centre, shortly after 8am. Harry Yearsley and his partner had been fast asleep when they were startled awake.

Going outside, he described a scene of carnage. Sections of two Bee Network buses had been reduced to twisted metal, and glass and debris littered one of the main routes from north Manchester into the city centre.

As police, fire and North West Ambulance Service swarmed the area, Harry told the M.E..N: "We got woken up at about 8.20am and we just heard a really loud bang. We came out because it's literally right next to our house.

"It was a few minutes before we got dressed. There was all ambulances and police cars and people getting put into ambulances."