UPDATE: Woman and child almost shunted into pond following bus and car collision in Carshalton

The woman was driving the car at the junction of High Street and North Street at about 8.30am on Tuesday, February 24, when the collision occurred.

According to reports the car was seen to be pushed along the length of the junction and was "a split second from ending up up-side-down in the pond".

There was a girl, believed to be eight years old, in the front passenger seat of the car.

One witness, who asked not to be named, said: "The car was pushed across the junction almost to the railings.

"The woman and daughter were struggling. The child was in the front passenger side and they were very close to going into the pond.

"The bus hit the right side of the car in the middle of the doors."

According to witnesses the BMW was waiting to turn right at the junction and a single decker bus had been allowing "two or three cars to pull out" shortly before the collision.

The witness said: "The BMW pulled out and the bus actually accelerated and shunted the car all the way across the junction and very close to the pond.

"There was a split second where it looked like the car was going to end up up-side-down in the pond.

"There was a woman and a child of about eight in the car."

Following the crash two members of the public were seen to direct traffic to help with flow until the emergency vehicles arrived, first a crew from the London Ambulance Service followed by two police cars.

The witness said: "The bus driver just shut himself in his cab, he was just sitting there.

"He wouldn't let people off the bus at first and finally opened the door after about five or 10 minutes.

"Eventually the ambulance turned up in what felt like about 10 minutes.

"It was so busy and there were only two people, who didn't know what they were doing, helping to divert the traffic."

Another witness described the incident as "a nasty crash".

Did you see or were affected by the incident? Contact the newsroom on 0208 722 6355.