Sixty schoolchildren have been rescued from a doubledecker bus that has crashed on a country lane in Lincoln.

A boy, 12, broke his arm during the incident and a girl, 14, was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Ch Insp Phil Vickers said the bus, which was delivering the pupils to two nearby secondary schools, did not overturn but slid against the hedgerows.

“The bus has put its passenger side – its near side – on to a soft verge and has slid slightly against the hedgerows and trees alongside the road,” he told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

Emily, who was sitting on the top deck, described children on one side of the bus flying on to the other side, landing on top of the people sat there. “It kind of went to the side, and everyone was scared because, obviously, we didn’t know what was happening,” she told the local news station.

Parents were urged not to go to the scene of the accident. Instead police directed them to a nearby special needs school which acted as a rendezvous point.

Meadow Lane, North Hykeham, near Lincoln, was closed shortly before 8.30am on Thursday while emergency services dealt with the crash. It reopened about an hour later, but was later closed again as engineers began to recover the vehicle.

The bus was operated by Stagecoach, which said its immediate thoughts were with the children involved and their families. “We are giving the police our full support in helping to investigate and establish the circumstances of the incident,” a company statement continued.