A CROWD of onlookers watched as a bus narrowly missed shopfront windows as it attempted to turn in a closed high street.

The Morebus vehicle found itself trapped between shops after the driver 'missed road closure signs' on Christchurch High Street on Friday, October 13.

Despite numerous signs, the bus drove down the high street which is currently closed for maintenance works after a water main burst.

Ryan Thomas, 24, was on his way to pick his son up from nursery when he came across the bus at 11.40am this morning. 

He said as soon as he saw the bus, he knew the driver had only two options, to reverse up the street or to attempt to turn in the tight space.

“I thought, he's either got to reverse up the high street back to the roundabout, or he's going to turn round,” said Ryan.

“But he decided to turn round in probably the narrowest part of the high street, which is why the picture looks so funny.”

Ryan said crowds of onlookers left shops to watch the scene play out.

He said a person wearing a high-vis eventually began to help the driver by ‘ushering’ the bus back and forth.

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“He kept shuffling back where that picture was taken and he eventually managed to turn around, but as he was turning, the mirror on the front was inches from the wall of the library.

“It was just the sort of suspense like you knew he was probably going to hit something, but because he had the guy in the high-vis helping, he just missed it, ” Ryan said.

Eventually, the bus driver was able to completely turn and exit the high street at around 12 noon. 

Morebus general manager, Richard Wade, said: “One of our drivers was taking a route 1c bus along a diversion, which was in place due to unplanned roadworks, this morning along Christchurch High Street.

“Unfortunately, our driver appears to have misread the turning. We are carrying out an immediate investigation to find out exactly how this happened.

“Our team has now removed the vehicle and it is back in service. I’d like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused.”