A BUS driver was taken to hospital suffering from shock after his vehicle lost its roof when he collided with a railway bridge in Oakley.

Shocked villagers said the Stagecoach double-decker bus was on its way to pick up nearby schoolchildren waiting to go to Cranbourne School in Basingstoke when the accident happened just before 8am on Monday, blocking Oakley Lane. There were no passengers on board.

Wendy Tully, headteacher at Oakley Infant School, saw the bus just after the accident on her way to school.

She said: "It was as though the bus had been opened by a tin opener. The top of the bus came right off in one piece."

She said it was very fortunate that the bus was on its way to the school pick-up point, and not fully loaded with pupils going to Basingstoke.

Stagecoach's operations director Phil Medlicott said the bus was off route and out of service at the time of the accident.

He said: "It was a bad accident and we will hold a full and thorough investigation."

The bridge, which has a height restriction of 11 feet 10ins, was slightly damaged.

Railway services to and from Basingstoke were disrupted during the morning while structural checks on the bridge were carried out.