Passers-by free unicyclist from underneath bus following collision in Walthamstow

Witnesses estimate that between 50 and 100 bystanders managed to move a bus so as to free a unicyclist who had been left injured and trapped following a collision. The incident took place last night in Walthamstow during rush hour.

In a statement, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said that police were called out to the incident on Hoe Street at 5.50pm. Pictures published on the London Evening Standard website show how the unicycle was crushed under the wheel of the bus, but witness Kyra Sam told the newspaper how a crowd of people had rushed to lift the vehicle off the injured man.

"I'm really amazed at the strength of Walthamstow - no one hesitated to push the bus off, I was in shock. Everyone really came together to help – it was really nice to see that in the face of something so awful."

Sami Ullah, owner of the nearby Directors Cut café, said that people had emerged from restaurants to help and he estimated that between 50 and 100 people had been involved in moving the bus.

"All of a sudden we saw people leaving their chairs at Turtle Bay and Pizza Express and running towards the road. We saw people actually coming out of the bus as well. Everybody was shouting and screaming. Then all of the people tried to somehow move the bus a little bit."

He added that he had seen the victim earlier in the main square and that he had been seen around quite often.

The unicyclist was taken to an east London hospital where his condition is believed to be serious. The driver of the bus remained at the scene and there has been no arrest.

In 1994, the law changed such that unicycles now come under the definition of a ‘pedal cycle’. The Union of UK Unicyclists refers to a letter from Hampshire Police in which it is stated that it is an offence to ride one on a footpath and such a vehicle should therefore be used on the road.