Seven were injured last weekend when two buses collided near Kirkby-in-Furness. A Mercedes Stagecoach bus collided with a Volvo coach on Sunday afternoon on a narrow 50mph road.

Seven people sustained minor injuries, including a 62-year-old woman who suffered a cut on the head, another woman, 82, who had cuts on her neck, a man with facial injuries and a 43-year-old woman who cut her lip, all from Millom. A man from Barrow suffered a broken nose, and the Stagecoach driver was in shock, while the driver of the Volvo bus escaped unhurt.

A witness described how the oncoming bus appeared to have stopped and pulled in, whilst the bus she was following braked hard and skidded, crashing into the other bus on the driver’s side. The eyewitness dialled 999, and North West Ambulance Service attended the scene, taking the injured passengers to Furness General Hospital.

The stretch of road on which the accident happened is notoriously bad, according to locals. A recent £50,000 improvement scheme focussing on better speed warning signs was put to work following a Route Action Study in 2005 which highlighted these risks.

Local Councillor George Twiname said the road had been “a busy road for a long time. To be perfectly truthful, the road would have to be improved right the way along or you would need a bridge [across the estuary],” (North West Evening Mail, 2009).