Hospital reports ‘major incident’ after Liverpool school bus overturns

A children’s hospital in Liverpool has declared a “major incident” after a school bus overturned on a motorway. 

At around 8am this morning, emergency services received calls that a school bus had hit a reservation on the M53.

Merseyside Police and ambulance crews fled to the scene, including two air ambulances. 

It has been reported that 50 people have been assessed for injuries at the scene of the crash. So far, the ambulance service has confirmed that one female patient has been taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Now, a few hours on from the incident, Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool has released a statement, declaring that the hospital is dealing with a “major incident”.

“Our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy and we would also ask parents to only bring their children to the department if it is urgent,” the hospital staff added.

As a result, many hospital staff in Wirral, who had been on strike, have been told to return to work immediately to help the injured.

“We dispersed our picket and members are returning home to be on-call to help,” their union posted on X, previously known as Twitter.

Calday Grange Grammar School and West Kirby Grammar School have since confirmed that their students were involved in the crash, as the bus involved transports students from both areas. The two schools have stated that they are supporting families of the children involved as the incident progresses.

Local MP for Wirral West, Margaret Greenwood, has also taken to social media to express her concern at the news.

“My thoughts are with everyone affected by the incident on the M53. I know the emergency services will be working hard to support people,” she wrote.

The motorway remains closed between J5 at Ellesmere Port and J4 at Bebington.