The landlord of a pub near the scene of a crash which left three people in hospital has described the aftermath.

A school bus and passenger bus crashed in Epping Road, Coopersale, at 4.27pm yesterday, leaving three people with serious injuries.

Mark Barrigan, landlord of the Garnon Bushes Pub in Coopersale, said one of his customers saw the crash.

He said: “A lot of the school kids and their parents came in to use the toilet when they had picked them up.

“One of the guys who drinks in here saw the whole thing.

“From what I hear there was a stationary bus and the other one hit it up the back, apparently a car was  hit too.

“I guess the second bus didn’t realise that the first one was dropping kids off.

“He said that the driver was pretty mangled up.”

The pub was quiet all night as police closed the road until late in the evening.

Mr Barrigan said: “The road must have been closed until about 11pm, we lost a lot of trade.

“People were struggling just to get home because of the traffic. Some people were coming for Chelmsford and just couldn't get back, they to go all the way around."

The driver of the commercial bus was air-lifted to hospital with what were described as life-changing injuries.

A sixth former from the Anglo-European School is being treated in hospital for serious injuries after being trapped in the school bus.

Another pupil was released from hospital after treatement.