Drama at Lambeth Palace as bus knocks down part of garden wall

These pictures show how the bus demolished a section of the garden wall and flattened a lamp post in Lambeth Palace Road.

Lambeth Palace Road was closed to traffic in both directions whilst fire crews and police dealt with the crash.

The bus is a single-deck Mercedes Citaro on route 507 between Waterloo and Victoria. It is operated by Go-Ahead London.

Five people were taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service.

The incident comes just a week before Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Just over a month ago a rubbish truck overturned at the nearby Lambeth Bridge roundabout.