A COUPLE have spoken of the "absolutely terrifying" moment when scaffolding smashed their bus window in Newport.

Craig Hendricks and his wife, along with his three-year-old and eight-year-old daughters, were passengers on the Megabus which collided with scaffolding on the Queensway last Thursday (July 2).

The family, who were visiting Wales from South Africa for a wedding, had seats by the window that was shattered at the end of the bus.

"It was an absolutely terrifying experience to see the windows systematically being shattered as the bus moved forward through the scaffolding, realising that it would eventually impact the last window where my daughter was sitting," said Mr Hendricks.

"My wife and I were both frozen initially with fear which was exacerbated by the fact that she could not release my daughter's seat belt to get her out of harms way in time.

"Fortunately she sustained no physical injuries. I was the only one with a few scrapes which I got while assisting an old lady who also had minor scrapes and needed assistance as she walked with the aid of a walking stick."

He added: "I regret not staying at the scene of the accident because it seems my daughter was traumatised by the experience, as she has nightmares and is already dreading the bus trip to Heathrow when we leave Wales.

"At the time, all we wanted to do was to get as far away from the accident and reconcile with our family living in Wales so that we could have an environment of familiarity and safety as soon as possible.

"We have enjoyed the fantastic hospitality of the Welsh thus far and are looking forward to the wedding we are attending this Saturday, which was our main reason for coming to Wales.

"We have definitely had a shocking welcome to Wales but it will be always remain an extremely memorable one."

After the incident a spokeswoman for megabus.com said: "One of our vehicles operating between London and Swansea was involved in an incident this afternoon in which it struck some scaffolding in Newport at around 5pm.

"Our first thoughts are for the well-being of those involved.

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"We believe one customer was treated in hospital for a minor injury following the incident.

"A replacement coach was sent to allow passengers to continue their journeys.

"Safety is our absolute priority and we will carry out an investigation into the cause of the incident."

A spokeswoman for Richard Hayward Properties said it was their scaffolding involved in the incident.

“It is business as usual,” she said. “It has had no impact on us.”