[1] The bus was hired for a private excursion to Brighton for the day, carrying Volunteer Fire Brigade members and their families from Orpington and St Mary Cray in Kent.

About 100 yards from where the brakes broke, the bus crashed into a large tree on the hillside.

The deckload of passengers was reportedly hurled into the woods, and the body of the bus rebounded onto the road and drove into the bank again a little further down the hill.

The injured were initially transported to the very near village of Handcross, where the Red Lion Inn was used as a temporary hospital.

Aid from nearby towns soon arrived, with the Crawley and Ifield hospitals sending doctors and nurses and the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton sending nursing staff in a motor-car.