A GROUP of quick-thinking Bolton postmen averted a disaster this lunchtime when a bus rolled across a busy town centre road - without the driver!

The posties chased after the bus and jumped on board to pull on the handbrake after the empty single decker bus mounted the pavement off Blackhorse Street.

Horrified shoppers and office workers watched in amazement as the bus rolled across the road, mounted the pavement and was brought to a stop on the grass verge beyond.

Six postal workers from the nearby main post office ran to the rescue to stop the bus before anyone was hurt.

One eyewitness, Wayne Duncan, a security guard at the Crown Court complex, watched the drama. He said: "I couldn't believe it when it started to move. We had seen the driver get out earlier. "When I looked around again thus bus was going towards the grass and then, all of a sudden, the postmen came and stopped it." The drama was also witnessed by Bolton town councillor Martin Donaghy.

Cllr Donaghy said: "I thought it was turning round in the road, but then I saw there was no driver on it. It went across the street and mounted the pavement. Three men then jumped on board and brought it to a definite stop."

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