A BUS caused chaos at Dorset County Hospital when it got stuck under a bridge.

The double decker X31 Dorchester to Bridport bus operated by First became stuck for around 50 minutes yesterday evening, trapping disabled motorists and others in one section of the car park.

One eye witness said she saw the bus stuck under the bridge at around 6.45pm and it was still there when she came past again around half an hour later.

She said: “Nobody could get out of all the disabled parking bays and the community ambulance couldn’t get in.

“All those parked in there were just stuck.”

A spokesman for Dorset County Hospital said: “The bus collided with the underside of the canopy which vehicles have to go under to reach the disabled parking and bus stop area outside the main north wing entrance and got wedged there.

“Passengers were escorted off the bus by our portering team and First arranged for taxis for onward journeys.

“No injuries were sustained.

“A First engineer attended and deflated the tyres to lower the bus.

“Apart from some scraping there's no major damage to our canopy steelwork.”

The spokesman added that the incident had occurred at 6.55pm and it was removed from the area by 7.45pm.

She said: “Vehicles, including ambulances, used a different entrance while it was blocked and we found alternative parking for any disabled visitors arriving on site.

“Anyone delayed leaving the disabled parking area was looked after in the meantime.”

A spokesman for First added: "We can confirm one of our buses was involved in an incident outside Dorset County Hospital.

"There were no injuries to the five passengers on board with only minor damage caused to the bus and no damage to the canopy outside the hospital.

"We have launched our own internal inquiry into the incident."