A collision between a bus and a van on Middle Road in Southampton on Thursday evening around 5.35pm resulted in a 38-year-old man and three young children taken to hospital.

However, the children — aged 2, 4 and 7 — were treated for relatively minor injuries and discharged, while the van driver suffered hip and leg injuries after being extricated from his vehicle by the Fire Service.

Fire Service spokesman staff officer Delton White said: “ . . . we had to use specialised Holmatro extraction equipment to free the driver from the vehicle.

“It was a difficult extraction as the way the driver was trapped made it almost impossible to get our Holmatro equipment into the areas where we needed it.

“The Fire Service personnel on scene did an excellent job of keeping the driver calm whilst performing the extraction.”

It appears that the bus and van were each being driven in opposite directions when the collision occurred, said a police spokesman.

Traffic was diverted away from the area while the scene was processed, with that section of Middle Road in Southampton re-opening to normal traffic flow after the damaged vehicles had been removed, approximately three hours later.

Inquiries continue and any witnesses that have not yet come forward should contact the main police telephone number 295-0011.