A motorist who witnessed a double decker bus driving under a low level bridge said it was like watching a can lid being peeled off.

The bus hit the bridge on Leeman Road this afternoon. 

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "We can confirm that a bus has gone into bridge on Leeman Road in York.

Michael Hinton was in traffic following the bus when he saw it attempt to go under the structure.

"I had just picked up my bairns from after-school club and was a couple of cars behind," he told The Press.

"I saw the double decker bus going down Salisbury Terrace and thought it was strange because they can't get under the bridge.

"True enough he just went through. He centred himself to go down the middle as they always do. He was going at normal speed. The bus had no problem getting through but the roof didn't make it. I just hope no one was on the top because they will have suffered serious injury.

"It was like a can opener - it just peeled the top off and the bus carried on going through. There was glass everywhere. It made such a noise and a mess.

Michael, who lives in nearby Phoenix Boulevard, said: "We have seen it before with trucks years ago."

He said he had to take a detour via Clifton Bridge and Holgate Road to get home. "The traffic was quite bad so it took me about 35 minutes."