A woman was killed and at least five people injured when a bus smashed into a group of people at a bus shelter in Crawley today.

One bus was waiting at a stop in Priory Way, at the County Mall shopping centre, when another crashed into it from behind, mounted the pavement and demolished the shelter, then struck the wall of the Boots store.

Some of those waiting at the bus stop ran out of the path of the oncoming bus, but others could not. Several elderly people are thought to have been caught up in the crash.

One pedestrian, believed to be a woman, was pushed into the side of the building and trapped between the vehicle and the shopping centre.

Workman Roddy White was taking his tools out of his van at about 9.20am when he heard screams. He said: "When I looked round I saw the bus go through the shelter where three or four elderly people were standing.

"There were about three people on the floor and one other on the other side of the bus. She was lying on the floor between the bus and the building and had to be pulled out on a stretcher."

"People starting running over when they heard the commotion. There was an elderly woman lying on the pavement screaming. Another was laid face down and not moving."

Sergeant Larry Colver, of Sussex Police, said three people were seriously injured and taken to East Surrey Hospital, Redhill. Another two with minor injuries were taken to Crawley Hospital.

He said: "For reasons we don't know, the bus came up the inside of the double-decker, on to the pavement and hit the bus stop and the wall. We are still trying to contact the family of the person who died."

The vehicles involved in the crash were a single-decker and a double-decker, both run by Metrobus.

Operations director Gary Wood said all at the company were devastated by the crash.

He said he understood the double-decker which was struck was empty. The driver of the other bus, a single-decker, was shocked but not injured.

He said: "Our hearts go out to those who have been injured and to the family of the person who has died.

"We have a very good safety record and this is the first such incident we have had, but we will be launching an internal inquiry as a matter of course once we have all the police reports.

"It is still too early to say exactly what happened. The emergency services are still at the scene and the area is still sealed off.

"The driver of the single-decker suffered shock but physically he is okay. As far as I know the bus that was hit was empty and awaiting a driver and those injured were waiting at a bus stop. We will know more later."