The driver of a bus that crashed through a Wellington home's fence was in shock and could barely speak, residents of the house say.
The Metlink bus crashed through a brick wall and a wooden fence, smashing the windscreen and ending up entangled in a tree at the front of the home on State Highway 1, between the central city and airport in Kilbirnie.
The crash, near Kilbirnie Crescent, was reported just before 6am on Monday and the bus was the only vehicle involved. It has since been towed from the scene.
The Metlink bus crashed through home's fence, closing lane on major Wellington road on Monday morning. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
One person received minor injuries.
Dan, who lives at house, said he was in bed when he heard a loud crash sound.
He then heard an "expletive" from his flatmate and thought he better get up and check it out.
Dan was one of five housemates woken up when a bus crashed through a home's fence on Wellington's SH1. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
When he got outside he saw the driver crawling out of the bus through the broken passenger door.
"He was in shock, you couldn't really see any injuries, we got him a chair, he was barely speaking."
After the ambulance arrived he saw the driver's leg had a "nasty cut", and there was a bit of blood.
Metlink said the bus driver had a medical incident before the crash.
Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
Dan said the bus knocked over 2m high brick pillar and sent bricks flying into his car, parked oustide the house.
Georgia, another flatmate told RNZ, she slept through the "big bang" that woke everyone else up, but didn't stay asleep for long.
"My partner ran up and he was like: 'Georgia, there's a bus in the garden'."
"To be honest, I've had a crash here, it's a really dangerous road already. I'm not too surprised, but surprised it was a whole bus."
The bus had no passengers in it, and the vehicle was marked "not in service", he said,
One lane of the road was closed for about four hours, with a detour for traffic heading out of the city.
Both lanes were briefly closed as the bus was towed away, and by 10am the road was fully open again.
Traffic backed up after the crash on the road to Wellington airport. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
The shattered windscreen of a Metlink bus that crashed into a house's brick fence on a major Wellington road. Photo: Supplied
A bus crashed into a wall outside a house in Kilbirnie, Wellington. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
